Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act
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The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (introduced as Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and thus often referred to simply as Arizona SB 1070) is a legislative Act
in the U.S. state of Arizona
that at the time of passage was the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration
measure in recent U.S. history. It has received national and international attention and has spurred considerable controversy.
U.S. federal law requires all aliens
over the age of 14 who remain in the United States for longer than 30 days to register with the U.S. government, and to have registration documents in their possession at all times. The Arizona Act additionally makes it a state misdemeanor
crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents, requires that state law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigration status during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest" when there is reasonable suspicion
that the individual is an illegal immigrant, bars state or local officials or agencies from restricting enforcement of federal
immigration law
s, and cracks down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal aliens. The paragraph on intent in the legislation says it embodies an "attrition through enforcement" doctrine.
Critics of the legislation say it encourages racial profiling
, while supporters say the law prohibits the use of race as the sole basis for investigating immigration status. The law was modified by Arizona House Bill 2162 within a week of its signing with the goal of addressing some of these concerns. There have been protests in opposition to the law in over 70 U.S. cities, including boycotts and calls for boycotts of Arizona. Polling has found the law to have majority support in Arizona and nationwide. Passage of the measure has prompted other states to consider adopting similar legislation.
The Act was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer
on April 23, 2010. It was scheduled to go into effect on July 29, 2010, ninety days after the end of the legislative session
. Legal challenges over its constitutionality
and compliance with civil rights
law were filed, including one by the United States Department of Justice
, that also asked for an injunction against enforcement of the law. The day before the law was to take effect, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the law's most controversial provisions. Arizona has sought, unsuccessfully to date, to reverse that decision in the federal appeals courts.
crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents and obligates police to make an attempt, when practicable during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest", to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion
that the person is an illegal alien. Any person arrested cannot be released without confirmation of the person's legal immigration status by the federal government pursuant to § 1373(c) of Title 8 of the United States Code
. A first offense carries a fine of up to $100, plus court costs, and up to 20 days in jail; subsequent offenses can result in up to 30 days in jail (SB 1070 required a minimum fine of $500 for a first violation, and for a second violation a minimum $1,000 fine and a maximum jail sentence of 6 months). A person is "presumed to not be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States" if he or she presents any of the following four forms of identification: a valid Arizona driver license
; a valid Arizona nonoperating identification license; a valid tribal enrollment card
or other tribal identification; or any valid federal, state, or local government-issued identification
, if the issuer requires proof of legal presence in the United States as a condition of issuance.
The Act also prohibits state, county, and local officials from limiting or restricting "the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law" and provides that any legal Arizona resident can sue the agencies or officials in question to compel such full enforcement. If the person who brings suit prevails, that person may be entitled to reimbursement of court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
In addition, the Act makes it a crime for anyone, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, to hire or to be hired from a vehicle which "blocks or impedes the normal movement of traffic." Vehicles used in such manner are subject to mandatory immobilization or impoundment. Moreover, for a person in violation of a criminal law, it is an additional offense to transport an alien "in furtherance" of the alien's illegal presence in the U.S., to "conceal, harbor or shield" an alien, or to encourage or induce an alien to immigrate to the state, if the person "knows or recklessly disregards the fact" that the alien is in the U.S. illegally or that immigration would be illegal. Violation is a class 1 misdemeanor if fewer than ten illegal aliens are involved, and a class 6 felony if ten or more are involved. The offender is subject to a fine of at least $1,000 for each illegal alien involved. The transportation provision includes exceptions for child protective services workers, and ambulance attendants and emergency medical technicians.
Arizona had an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in April 2010, a figure that had increased fivefold since 1990. As the state with the most illegal crossings of the Mexico – United States border, its remote and dangerous deserts are the entry point for thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans. By the late 1990s, Tucson Border Patrol Sector had become the location for the most number of arrests by the United States Border Patrol
.
Whether illegal immigrants commit a disproportionate number of crimes is uncertain, with different authorities and academics claiming that the rate for this group was the same, greater, or less than that of the overall population. Perception bias leads many on both sides of the debate to reject or rationalize crime rate statistics. There was also anxiety that the Mexican Drug War
, which had caused thousands of deaths, would spill over into the U.S. Moreover, by the late 2000s Phoenix was seeing an average of one kidnapping per day, earning it the reputation as America's worst city in that regard.
Arizona has a history of passing restrictions on illegal immigration, including legislation in 2007 that imposed heavy sanctions on employers hiring illegal immigrants. Measures similar to SB 1070 had been passed by the legislature in 2006 and 2008, only to be vetoed by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano
. She was subsequently elevated to Secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration and was replaced by Republican Secretary of State of Arizona
Jan Brewer. There is a similar history of referenda, such as the Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
that have sought to restrict illegal immigrants' use of social services. The 'attrition through enforcement' doctrine is one that think tanks such as the Center for Immigration Studies
have been supporting for several years.
Impetus for SB 1070 is attributed to shifting demographics leading to a larger Hispanic population, increased drugs- and human smuggling-related violence in Mexico and Arizona, and a struggling state economy and economic anxiety during the late-2000s recession. State residents were also frustrated by the lack of federal progress on immigration, which they viewed as even more disappointing given that Napolitano was in the administration.
The major sponsor of, and legislative force behind, the bill was State Senator Russell Pearce
, who had long been one of Arizona's most vocal opponents of illegal immigration and who had successfully pushed through several prior pieces of tough legislation against those he termed "invaders on the American sovereignty". Much of the drafting of the bill was done by Kris Kobach
, a professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law and a figure long associated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform
who had written immigration-related bills in many other parts of the country. Pearce and Kobach had worked together on past legislative efforts regarding immigration, and Pearce contacted Kobach when he was ready to pursue the idea of the state enforcing federal immigration laws. A December 2009 meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council
in Washington, D.C., resulted in that body drafting model legislation
that embodied the ideas that Pearce presented.
The proposed bill reached the Arizona legislature in January 2010 and quickly gained 36 cosponsors. The Arizona State Senate approved an early version of the bill in February 2010. Saying, "Enough is enough," Pearce stated figuratively that this new bill would remove handcuffs from law enforcement and place them on violent offenders.
On March 27, 2010, 58-year-old Robert Krentz
and his dog were shot and killed while Krentz was doing fence work on his large ranch roughly 19 miles (30.6 km) from the Mexican border. This incident gave a tangible public face to fears about immigration-related crime. Arizona police were not able to name a murder suspect but traced a set of footprints from the crime scene south towards the border. The resulting speculation that the killer was an illegal alien increased support among the public for the measure. For a while there was talk of naming the law after Krentz. Some state legislators (both for and against the law) believe, however, that the impact of the Krentz killing has been overstated as a factor in the bill's passing.
The bill, with a number of changes made to it, passed the Arizona House of Representatives
on April 13 by a 35–21 party-line vote. The revised measure then passed the State Senate on April 19 by a 17–11 vote that also closely followed party lines, with all but one Republican voting for the bill, ten Democrats voting against the bill, and two Democrats not voting.
Once a bill passes, the governor has five days to make a decision to sign, veto, or let it pass unsigned. The question then became whether or not Governor Brewer would sign the bill into law, as she had remained silent on the measure while weighing the consequences. Immigration had not been a prime focus of her political career up to this point, although as secretary of state she had supported Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
. As governor, she had made another push for Arizona Proposition 100 (2010)
, a one percent increase in the state sales tax to prevent cuts in education, health and human services, and public safety, despite opposition from within her own party. These preceding political moves, along with an upcoming tough Republican Party primary in the 2010 Arizona gubernatorial election
from other conservative opponents supporting the bill, were all considered major factors in her decision. During the bill's development, her staff had gone over its language line by line with State Senator Pearce, but she had also said she had concerns about several of its provisions. The Mexican Senate urged the governor to veto the measure and the Mexican Embassy to the U.S. raised concerns about potential racial profiling
that may result. Citizen messages to Brewer, however, were 3–1 in favor of the law. A Rasmussen Reports
poll taken between the House and Senate votes showed wide support for the bill among likely voters in the state, with 70 percent in favor and 23 percent opposed. Of those same voters, 53 percent were at least somewhat concerned that actions taken due to the measures in the bill would violate the civil rights of some American citizens. Brewer's staff said that she was considering the legal issues, the impact on the state's business, and the feelings of the citizens in coming to her decision. They added that "she agonizes over these things," and the governor also prayed over the matter. Brewer's political allies said her decision would cause her political trouble no matter which way she decided. Most observers expected that in the end, she would sign the bill, and on April 23 she did.
During the time of the signing, there were over a thousand people at the Arizona State Capitol
both in support of and opposition to the bill, and some minor civil unrest occurred. Against concerns that the measure would promote racial profiling, Brewer stated that no such behavior would be tolerated: "We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent or social status." She vowed to ensure that police forces had proper training relative to the law and civil rights, and on the same day as the signing issued an executive order requiring additional training for all officers on how to implement SB 1070 without engaging in racial profiling. Ultimately, she said, "We have to trust our law enforcement." (The training materials developed by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board were released in June 2010.)
Sponsor Pearce called the bill's signing "a good day for America."
News of the law and the debate around immigration gained national attention, especially on cable news television channels, where topics that attract strong opinions are often given extra airtime.
Nevertheless, those voting on the bill were later surprised by the reaction it gained. State Representative Michele Reagan reflected three months later: "The majority of us who voted yes on that bill, myself included, did not expect or encourage an outcry from the public. The majority of us just voted for it because we thought we could try to fix the problem. Nobody envisioned boycotts. Nobody anticipated the emotion, the prayer vigils. The attitude was: These are the laws, let's start following them." State Representative Kyrsten Sinema
, the assistant House minority leader who tried to stop the bill and voted against it, similarly reflected: "I knew it would be bad, but no one thought it would be this big. No one."
The immigration issue also gained center stage in the re-election campaign of Republican U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain
, who had been a past champion of federal immigration reform measures such as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
. Also faced with a primary battle
– against the more conservative J. D. Hayworth
, who had made measures against illegal immigration a central point of his candidacy – McCain supported SB 1070 only hours before its passage in the State Senate. McCain subsequently became a vocal defender of the law, saying that the state had been forced to take action given the federal government's inability to control the border.
poll done nationally around the time of the signing indicated that 60 percent of Americans were in favor of and 31 percent opposed to legislation that allows local police to "stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant." The same poll also indicated that 58 percent are at least somewhat concerned that "efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants will also end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens." A national Gallup Poll found that more than three-quarters of Americans had heard about the law, and of those who had, 51 percent were in favor of it against 39 percent opposed. An Angus Reid Public Opinion
poll indicated that 71 percent of Americans said they supported the notion of requiring their own police to determine people's status if there was "reasonable suspicion" the people were illegal immigrants, and arresting those people if they could not prove they were legally in the United States. A nationwide New York Times/CBS News
poll found similar results to the others, with 51 percent of respondents saying the Arizona law was "about right" in its approach to the problem of illegal immigration, 36 percent saying it went too far, and 9 percent saying it did not go far enough. Another CBS News poll, conducted a month after the signing, showed 52 percent seeing the law as about right, 28 percent thinking it goes too far, and 17 percent thinking it does not go far enough. A 57 percent majority thought that the federal government should be responsible for determining immigration law. A national Fox News poll found that 61 percent of respondents thought Arizona was right to take action itself rather than wait for federal action, and 64 percent thought the Obama administration should wait and see how the law works in practice rather than trying to stop it right away. Experts caution that in general, polling has difficulty reflecting complex immigration issues and law.
Another Rasmussen poll, done statewide after several days of heavy news coverage about the controversial law and its signing, found a large majority of Arizonans still supported it, by a 64 percent to 30 percent margin. Rasmussen also found that Brewer's approval ratings as governor had shot up, going from 40 percent of likely voters before the signing to 56 percent after, and that her margin over prospective Democratic gubernatorial opponent, State Attorney General Terry Goddard
(who opposes the law) had widened. A poll done by Arizona State University
researchers found that 81 percent of registered Latino voters in the state opposed SB 1070.
opposing the bill and most Republicans
supporting it.
The bill was criticized by President Barack Obama
who called it "misguided" and said it would "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe." Obama did later note that the HB 2162 modification had stipulated that the law not be applied in a discriminatory fashion, but the president said there was still the possibility of suspected illegal immigrants "being harassed and arrested". He repeatedly called for federal immigration reform legislation to forestall such actions among the states and as the only long-term solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Governor Brewer and President Obama met at the White House
in early June 2010 to discuss immigration and border security issues in the wake of SB 1070; the meeting was termed pleasant, but brought about little change in the participants' stances.
Secretary of Homeland Security and former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano
testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she had "deep concerns" about the law and that it would divert necessary law enforcement resources from combating violent criminals. (As governor, Napolitano had consistently vetoed similar legislation throughout her term.) U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
said the federal government was considering several options, including a court challenge based on the law leading to possible civil rights violations. Michael Posner
, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
, brought up the law in discussions with a Chinese delegation to illustrate human rights areas the U.S. needed to improve on. This led McCain and fellow senator from Arizona Jon Kyl
to strongly object to any possibly implied comparison of the law to human rights abuses in China
. Senior Democratic U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg
have criticized the law, with Bloomberg stating that it sends exactly the wrong message to international companies and travelers.
In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee
, McCain drew out that Napolitano had made her remarks before having actually read the law. Holder also acknowledged that he had not read the statute. The admissions by the two cabinet secretaries that they had not yet read SB 1070 became an enduring criticism of the reaction against the law.
Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin
accused the party in power of being willing to "criticize bills (and divide the country with ensuing rhetoric) without actually reading them." Governor Brewer's election campaign issued a video featuring a frog hand puppet that sang "reading helps you know what you're talkin' 'bout" and urged viewers to fully read the law. In reaction to the question, President Obama told a group of Republican senators that he had in fact read the law.
Democrat Linda Sánchez
, U.S. Representative from California's 39th congressional district
, has claimed that white supremacy
groups are in part to blame for the law's passage, saying, "There's a concerted effort behind promoting these kinds of laws on a state-by-state basis by people who have ties to white supremacy groups. It's been documented. It's not mainstream politics." Republican Representative Gary Miller
, from California's 42nd congressional district
, called her remarks "an outrageous accusation [and a] red herring. [She's] trying to change the debate from what the law says." Sánchez' district is in Los Angeles County and Miller's district is in both Los Angeles County and neighboring Orange County
.
The law has been popular among the Republican Party base electorate; however, several Republicans have opposed aspects of the measure, mostly from those who have represented heavily Hispanic states. These include former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush
, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and campaigning U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio
, and former George W. Bush chief political strategist Karl Rove
. Some analysts have stated that Republican support for the law gives short-term political benefits by energizing their base and independents, but longer term carries the potential of alienating the growing Hispanic population from the party. The issue played a role in several Republican primary contests during the 2010 congressional election season.
One Arizona Democrat who defended some of the motivation behind the bill was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
, who said her constituents were "sick and tired" of the federal government failing to protect the border, that the current situation was "completely unacceptable", and that the legislation was a "clear calling that the federal government needs to do a better job". However, she stopped short of supporting the law itself, saying it "does nothing to secure our border" and that it "stands in direct contradiction to our past and, as a result, threatens our future." Her opposition to the law became one of the issues in her 2010 re-election campaign, in which she narrowly prevailed over her Republican opponent, who supported it.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
included the dispute over SB 1070 in an August 2010 report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
, as an example to other countries of how fractious issues can be resolved under the rule of law. Governor Brewer demanded that the reference to the law be removed from the report, seeing its inclusion as implying that the law was a violation of human rights and saying that any notion of submitting U.S. laws to U.N. review was "internationalism run amok".
's office said that "the Mexican government condemns the approval of the law [and] the criminalization of migration." President Calderón also characterized the new law as a "violation of human rights". Calderón repeated his criticism during a subsequent state visit
to the White House.
The measure was also strongly criticized by Mexican health minister José Ángel Córdova, former education minister Josefina Vázquez Mota
, and Governor of Baja California José Guadalupe Osuna Millán
, with Osuna saying it "could disrupt the indispensable economic, political and cultural exchanges of the entire border region." The Mexican Foreign Ministry
issued a travel advisory
for its citizens visiting Arizona, saying "It must be assumed that every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time."
In response to these comments, Chris Hawley of USA Today
said that "Mexico has a law that is no different from Arizona's", referring to legislation which gives local police forces the power to check documents of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Immigration and human rights activists have also noted that Mexican authorities frequently engage in racial profiling, harassment, and shakedowns against migrants from Central America.
The law imperiled the 28th annual, binational Border Governors Conference
, scheduled to be held in Phoenix in September 2010 and to be hosted by Governor Brewer. The governors of the six Mexican states belonging to the conference vowed to boycott it in protest of the law, saying SB 1070 is "based on ethnic and cultural prejudice contrary to fundamental rights," and Brewer said in response that she was canceling the gathering. Governors Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Arnold Schwarzenegger
of California, U.S. border governors who oppose the law, supported moving the conference to another state and going forward with it, and it was subsequently held in Santa Fe, New Mexico
without Brewer attending.
The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police criticized the legislation, calling the provisions of the bill "problematic" and expressing that it will negatively affect the ability of law enforcement agencies across the state to fulfill their many responsibilities in a timely manner. Additionally, some officers have repeated the past concern that illegal immigrants may come to fear the police and not contact them in situations of emergency or in instances where they have valuable knowledge of a crime. However, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents the city's police officers, has supported the legislation and lobbied aggressively for its passage. Officers supporting the measure say they have many indicators other than race they can use to determine whether someone may be an illegal immigrant, such as absent identification or conflicting statements made.
The measure was hailed by Joe Arpaio
, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona
– known for his tough crackdowns on illegal immigration within his own jurisdiction – who hoped the measure would cause the federal action to seal the border. Arpaio said, "I think they'll be afraid that other states will follow this new law that's now been passed."
State Senator Pearce, a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) which has a substantial population in Arizona, frequently said that his efforts to push forward this legislation was based on that church's 13 Articles of Faith, one of which instructs in obeying the law. This association caused a backlash against the LDS Church and threatened its proselytizing efforts among the area's Hispanic population. The church emphasized that it took no position on the law or immigration in general and that Pearce did not speak for it. The following year the LDS Church took an official position on the issue which opposes Pearce's approach to immigration, saying, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned that any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God. The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship." (Pearce, who in January 2011 had risen to become President of the Arizona Senate, suffered a startling defeat when he lost a November 2011 recall election
. Among the reasons given for his loss were the desire for greater civility in politics and a lessening of the tension over immigration policy, and a loss of support for Pearce among LDS Church members based on character issues.)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced the law, characterizing it as draconian and saying it "could lead to the wrongful questioning and arrest of U.S. citizens." The National Council of Churches
also criticized the law, saying that it ran counter to centuries of biblical teachings regarding justice and neighborliness.
Other members of the Christian clergy differed on the law. United Methodist Church Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño
of Arizona's Desert Southwest Conference opposed it as "unwise, short sighted and mean spirited" and led a mission of prominent religious figures to Washington to lobby for comprehensive immigration reform. But others stressed the Biblical command to follow laws. While there was a perception that most Christian groups opposed the law, Mark Tooley
of the Institute on Religion and Democracy
said that immigration was a political issue that "Christians across the spectrum can disagree about" and that liberal churches were simply more outspoken on this matter.
of Saint Paul, Minnesota
, labeled it as "draconian" as did Democratic Texas House of Representatives
member Garnet Coleman
. Edwin Kneedler, the U.S. Deputy Solicitor General, also criticized the legislation for its potential infringement on the civil liberties of Arizona's citizens and lawful permanent residents.
Proponents of the law have rejected such criticism, and argued that the law was reasonable, limited, and carefully crafted. Stewart Baker
, a former Homeland Security official in the George W. Bush administration
, said, "The coverage of this law and the text of the law are a little hard to square. There's nothing in the law that requires cities to stop people without cause, or encourages racial or ethnic profiling by itself."
Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives Steve Montenegro
supported the law, saying that "This bill has nothing to do with race or profiling." Montenegro, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador
with his family when he was four, stated, "I am saying if you here illegally, get in line, come in the right way."
Some Latino leaders have compared the law to Apartheid in South Africa
or the Japanese American internment
during World War II
.
Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn
and Congressman Jared Polis
of Colorado also said the law's requirement to carry papers all the time was reminiscent of the anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany
and feared that Arizona was headed towards becoming a police state
. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles said, "I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation."
The Anti-Defamation League
called for an end to the comparisons with Nazi Germany, saying that no matter how odious or unconstitutional the Arizona law might be, it did not compare to the role that Nazi identity cards played in what eventually became the extermination of European Jews
.
In its final form, HB 2162 limits the use of race. It states: "A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution." The U.S. and Arizona supreme courts have held that race may be considered in enforcing immigration law. In United States v. Brignoni-Ponce
, the U.S. Supreme Court found: “The likelihood that any given person of Mexican ancestry is an alien is high enough to make Mexican appearance a relevant factor.” The Arizona Supreme Court agrees that “enforcement of immigration laws often involves a relevant consideration of ethnic factors.” Both decisions say that race alone, however, is an insufficient basis to stop or arrest.
over the law around the time of its signing, and a pro-immigrant activist called the measure "racist". Passage of the HB 2162 modifications to the law, although intended to address some of the criticisms of it, did little to change the minds of the law's opponents.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the law in over 70 U.S. cities on May 1, 2010, a day traditionally used around the world to assert workers' rights
. A rally in Los Angeles, attended by Cardinal Mahoney, attracted between 50,000 and 60,000 people, with protesters waving Mexican flags and chanting "Sí se puede
". The city had become the national epicenter of protests against the Arizona law. Around 25,000 people were at a protest in Dallas, and more than 5,000 were in Chicago
and Milwaukee, while rallies in other cities generally attracted around a thousand people or so. Democratic U.S. Congressman from Illinois Luis Gutiérrez
was part of a 35-person group arrested in front of the White House
in a planned act of civil disobedience
that was also urging President Obama to push for comprehensive immigration reform. There and in some other locations, demonstrators expressed frustration with what they saw as the administration's lack of action on immigration reform, with signs holding messages such as "Hey Obama! Don't deport my mama."
Protests both for and against the Act took place over Memorial Day Weekend in Phoenix and commanded thousands of people. Those opposing it, mostly consisting of Latinos, marched five miles to the State Capitol in high heat, while those supporting it met in a stadium in an event arranged by elements of the Tea Party movement
.
Protests against the law extended to the arts and sports world as well. Colombian pop singer Shakira
came to Phoenix and gave a joint press conference against the bill with Mayor of Phoenix
Phil Gordon
. Linda Ronstadt
, of part Mexican descent and raised in Arizona, also appeared in Phoenix and said, "Mexican-Americans are not going to take this lying down." A May 16 concert in Mexico City
's Zócalo
, called Prepa Si Youth For Dignity: We Are All Arizona, drew some 85,000 people to hear Molotov
, Jaguares
, and Maldita Vecindad
headline a seven-hour show in protest against the law.
The Major League Baseball Players Association
, of whose members one quarter are born outside the U.S., said that the law "could have a negative impact on hundreds of major league players," especially since many teams come to Arizona for spring training
, and called for it to be "repealed or modified promptly." A Major League Baseball
game at Wrigley Field
where the Arizona Diamondbacks
were visiting the Chicago Cubs
saw demonstrators protesting the law. Protesters focused on the Diamondbacks because owner Ken Kendrick
had been a prominent fundraiser in Republican causes, but he in fact opposed the law. The Phoenix Suns
of the National Basketball Association
wore their "Los Suns" uniforms normally used for the league's "Noche Latina" program for their May 5, 2010 (Cinco de Mayo
) playoff game
against the San Antonio Spurs
to show their support for Arizona's Latino community and to voice disapproval of the immigration law. The Suns' political action, rare in American team sports, created a firestorm and drew opposition from many of the teams' fans; President Obama highlighted it, while conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh
called the move "cowardice, pure and simple."
s of Arizona were organized in response to SB 1070, with resolutions by city governments being among the first to materialize. The government of San Francisco
, the Los Angeles City Council
, and city officials in Oakland, Minneapolis, Saint Paul
, Denver, and Seattle all took specific action, usually by banning some of their employees from work-related travel to Arizona or by limiting city business done with companies headquartered in Arizona.
In an attempt to push back against the Los Angeles City Council's action, which was valued at $56 million, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce
sent a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
, suggesting that he'd "be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so that Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation." Such a move was infeasible for reasons of ownership and governance, and Pierce later stated that he was not making a literal threat to cut power to the city.
U.S. Congressman Raúl Grijalva
, from Arizona's 7th congressional district
, had been the first prominent officeholder to call for an economic boycott of his state, by industries from manufacturing to tourism, in response to SB 1070. His call was echoed by La Opinión
, the nation's largest Spanish-language newspaper. Calls for various kinds of boycotts were also spread through social media
sites, and there were reports of individuals or groups changing their plans or activities in protest of the law. The prospect of an adverse economic impact made Arizonan business leaders and groups nervous, and Phoenix officials estimated that the city could lose up to $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years due to the controversy over the law. Phoenix Mayor Gordon urged people not to punish the entire state as a consequence.
Major organizations opposing the law, such as the National Council of La Raza
, refrained from initially supporting a boycott, knowing that such actions are difficult to execute successfully and even if done cause broad economic suffering, including among the people they are supporting. Arizona did have a past case of a large-scale boycott during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it lost many conventions and several hundred million dollars in revenues after Governor Evan Mecham's cancellation of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day state holiday and a subsequent failed initial referendum to restore it. La Raza subsequently switched its position regarding SB 1070 and became one of the leaders of the boycott effort.
The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce opposed both the law and the idea of boycotting, saying the latter would only hurt small businesses and the state’s economy, which was already badly damaged by the collapse of real estate prices and the late-2000s recession. Other state business groups opposed a boycott for the same reasons. Religious groups opposed to the law split on whether a boycott was advisable, with Bishop Carcaño saying one "would only extend our recession by three to five years and hit those who are poorest among us." Representative Grijalva said he wanted to keep a boycott restricted to conferences and conventions and only for a limited time: "The idea is to send a message, not grind down the state economy." Governor Brewer said that she was disappointed and surprised at the proposed boycotts – "How could further punishing families and businesses, large and small, be a solution viewed as constructive?" – but said that the state would not back away from the law. President Obama took no position on the matter, saying, "I'm the president of the United States, I don't endorse boycotts or not endorse boycotts. That's something that private citizens can make a decision about."
Sports-related boycotts were proposed as well. U.S. Congressman from New York José Serrano asked baseball commissioner Bud Selig
to move the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
from Chase Field
in Phoenix. The manager of the Chicago White Sox
, Ozzie Guillen
, stated that he would boycott that game "as a Latin American" and several players indicated they might as well. Selig refused to move the game and it took place as scheduled a year later, with no players or coaches staying away. Two groups protesting outside the stadium drew little interest from fans eager to get into the game. The World Boxing Council
, based in Mexico City
, said it would not schedule Mexican boxers to fight in the state.
A boycott by musicians saying they would not stage performances in Arizona was started by Zack de la Rocha
, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine
and the son of Beto de la Rocha of Chicano art group Los Four
, who said, "Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low." Called the Sound Strike, artists signing on with the effort included Kanye West
, Cypress Hill
, Massive Attack
, Conor Oberst
, Sonic Youth
, Joe Satriani
, Rise Against
, Tenacious D
, The Coup
, Gogol Bordello
, and Los Tigres del Norte
. Some other Spanish-language artists did not join this effort but avoided playing in Arizona on their tours anyway; these included Pitbull
, Wisin & Yandel
, and Conjunto Primavera
. The Sound Strike boycott failed to gain support from many area- or stadium-level acts, and no country music acts signed on. Elton John
very publicly oppposed such efforts, saying at a concert performance in Tucson: "We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won't come here. They are fuckwits! Let's face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what's the fuck up with these people?" By November 2010, Pitbull had announced a change of heart, playing a show in Phoenix because large parts of the law had been stopped by the judicial action. My Chemical Romance
, an original Sound Strike participant, supposedly dropped out and scheduled a show in the state as well (however, the following day the show was cancelled and the band apologized, explaining that it was an error with tour scheduling and it should not have been booked in the first place due to "the band's affiliation with The Sound Strike" ). De la Rocha said Sound Strike would continue despite the injunction against large parts of SB 1070 in order to battle Arizona's "racist and fear mongering state government" and until the Obama administration stopped participating in federal actions such as the 287(g) program
, Secure Communities, and other U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
policies.
In reaction to the boycott talk, proponents of the law advocated making a special effort to buy products and services from Arizona in order to indicate support for the law. These efforts, sometimes termed a "buycott", were spread by social media and talk radio as well as by elements of the Tea Party movement
. Some supporters of the law and legal scholars have also suggested that the city government boycotts of Arizona represent an unconstitutional violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause.
By early May, the state had lost a projected $6–10 million in business revenue, according to the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association. However, an increase in leisure travel and an overall economic recovery more than compensated for the business travel loss; by July, overall hotel occupancy rates and revenues were up from the same period in 2009. The president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said, "Fundamentally, the boycotts have been unsuccessful." A November 2010 study by the progressive-oriented Center for American Progress
stated that the boycott had so far cost the state economy as much as $141 million in lost revenues, including $45 million in the lodging industry. However, an examination at the same time by the Associated Press
found that while the boycott had been disruptive in some areas, it had had nowhere near the effect some had originally imagined. Visitors at Grand Canyon National Park
were up from the year before, several well-known Arizona-based companies that were targeted said they had seen no effect from it, and the actions by the San Francisco and Los Angeles city governments had resulted in few practical consequences. Sports-related boycotts, such as of the Fiesta Bowl
, sponsor Frito-Lay
and beer distributor Hensley & Co.
, had also had no effect. In September 2011 La Raza and two associated groups called off their boycott, saying that the action had been successful in discouraging some other states from passing SB 1070-like laws and that continuing the boycott would only punish businesses and workers.
figures stated that there were 100,000 fewer Hispanics in Arizona than before the debate about the law began; it said Arizona's poor economic climate could also be contributing to the decline. The government of Mexico reported that over 23,000 of its citizens returned to the country from Arizona between June and September 2010.
The weeks after the bill's signing saw a sharp increase in the number of Hispanics in the state registering their party affiliations as Democrats.
The Arizona legislation was one of several reasons pushing Democratic congressional leaders to introduce a proposal addressing immigration. Senator Schumer sent a letter to Governor Brewer asking her to delay the law while Congress works on comprehensive immigration reform, but Brewer quickly rejected the proposal.
Bills similar to SB 1070 were introduced in Pennsylvania
, Rhode Island
, Michigan
, Minnesota
, and South Carolina
. None of them went to final votes in 2010; politicians in nearly twenty states are proposing to introduce similar legislation during their 2011 legislative calendars. Such proposals drew strong reaction both for and against, and some states may have waited to see how the Arizona law fares in the courts before moving forward. The other states along the Mexican border – Texas, New Mexico, and California – generally showed little interest in following Arizona's path. This was due to their having established, powerful Hispanic communities, deep cultural ties to Mexico, past experience with bruising political battles over the issue (such as with California Proposition 187
in the 1990s), and the perception among their populations that illegal immigration was less severe a problem.
By March 2011, Arizona-like bills had been defeated or had failed to progress in at least six states and momentum had shifted against such imitative efforts. Reasons ranged from opposition from business leaders to fear among legislators of the legal costs of defending any adopted measure. One state that did pass a law based partly on SB 1070, Utah, combined it with a guest worker program that went in the other direction (and fit into the spirit of the Utah Compact
). Even in Arizona itself, additional tough measures against illegal immigration were having a difficult time gaining passage in the Arizona Senate. Other states were still waiting to see what the outcome of the legal battles would be. By September 2011, Indiana, Georgia, and South Carolina had passed somewhat similar measures and were facing legal action. Another anti-illegal immigration measure, Alabama HB 56
, was considered tougher even than SB 1070; it was signed into law in June 2011 and most of its key parts were upheld by a U.S. district judge in September 2011.
Some immigration experts said the law might make workers with H-1B visa
s vulnerable to being caught in public without their hard-to-replace paperwork, which they are ordinarily reluctant to carry with them on a daily basis, and that as a consequence universities and technology companies in the state might find it harder to recruit students and employees. Some college and university administrators shared this fear, and President Robert N. Shelton
of the University of Arizona
expressed concern regarding the withdrawal of a number of honor roll students from the university in reaction to this bill.
Some women with questionable immigration status have been avoiding domestic abuse hotlines and shelters for fear of deportation. Some critics of SB 1070 fear that it will serve as a roadblock to victims getting needed support, while supporters say such concerns are unfounded and that the Act is directed towards criminals, not victims.
While a few provisions of the law were left standing following the July 2010 blockage of the most controversial parts, authorities often kept following existing local ordinances in those areas in preference to using the new SB 1070 ones. One county sheriff said, "The whole thing is still on the shelf until the Supreme Court hears it." However, the training that police forces had gone through to avoid racial profiling and understand federal immigration policies still had a beneficial effect overall.
(ACLU) criticized the statute as a violation of the Supremacy Clause
of the United States Constitution
, which gives the federal government authority over the states in immigration matters and provides that only the federal government can enact and enforce immigration laws. Erwin Chemerinsky
, a constitutional scholar and dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law
says that "The law is clearly pre-empted by federal law under Supreme Court precedents."
According to one of the bill's authors (Kobach), the law embodies the doctrine of "concurrent enforcement" – i.e., that the state law parallels applicable federal law without any conflict – and Kobach stated that he believes it would thus survive any challenge: "There are some things that states can do and some that states can't do, but this law threads the needle perfectly.... Arizona only penalizes what is already a crime under federal law." State Senator Pearce noted that some past state laws on immigration enforcement had been upheld in federal courts.
In Gonzales v. City of Peoria (9th Cir. 1983), the Court held that the Immigration and Naturalization Act precludes local enforcement of the Act's civil provisions but does not preclude local enforcement of the Act's criminal provisions. The U.S. Attorney General may enter into a written agreement with a state or local government agency, under which that agency's employees perform the function of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States;
however, such an agreement is not required for the agency's employees to perform those functions.
On the other hand, various legal experts were divided on whether the law would survive a court challenge, with one law professor saying it "sits right on that thin line of pure state criminal law and federally controlled immigration law." Past lower court decisions in this area were not always consistent and a decision on the bill's legality from the U.S. Supreme Court is one possible outcome.
A Phoenix police officer, David Salgado, quickly followed with his own federal suit, claiming that to enforce the law he would be required to violate the rights of Hispanics. He also said that he would be forced to spend his own time and resources studying the law's requirements, and that he was liable to being sued whether he enforced the law or not. Another individual suit was filed by Roberto Javier Frisancho, a naturalized citizen and Washington, D.C., resident who said he planned to visit the state to conduct research.
On May 5, Tucson
and Flagstaff
became the first two cities to authorize legal action against the state over the Act; San Luis
later joined them. However, as of mid-late May, none of them had actually filed a suit. In late May, though, the city of Tucson filed a cross-claim
and joined Officer Escobar in his suit.
On May 17, a joint class action lawsuit, Friendly House et al. v. Whiting, was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of ten individuals and fourteen labor, religious, and civil rights organizations. The legal counsel filing the action, which is the largest of those filed, is a collaboration of the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Immigration Law Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network
, and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center
. The suit seeks to prevent SB 1070 from going into effect by charging that it:
This suit named County's Attorney and Sheriffs as defendants, rather than the State of Arizona or Governor Brewer as the earlier suits had. On June 4, the ACLU and others filed a request for an injunction
, arguing that the Act's scheduled start date of July 29 should be postponed until the underlying legal challenges against it are resolved.
Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the state affiliate of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
, alleged in an amicus curiae
brief for the ACLU et al. case that the prolonged detentions mandated by the law when there is reasonable suspicion that someone subject to a lawful stop is an illegal alien are justifiable only under the probable cause
standard and thus that the law requires violations of Fourth Amendment rights. The Anti-Defamation League
also filed an amicus curiae brief in support of this case. So too did the Government of Mexico, saying the law is unconstitutional, would lead to unlawful discrimination against Mexican citizens, and would damage bilateral relations between the two nations. Indeed, so many amicus curiae briefs have been filed regarding the law that size limits were imposed upon them.
Kobach remained optimistic that the suits would fail, saying "I think it will be difficult for the plaintiffs challenging this. They are heavy on political rhetoric but light on legal arguments." In late May 2010, Governor Brewer issued an executive order to create the Governor's Border Security and Immigration Legal Defense Fund to handle suits over the law. Brewer got into a dispute with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard
over whether he would defend the law against legal challenges, as a state attorney general normally would. Brewer accused Goddard, who opposed the law personally and was one of Brewer's possible rivals in the gubernatorial election, of colluding with the U.S. Justice Department as it deliberated whether to challenge the law in court. Goddard subsequently agreed to withdraw from the state's defense. (Goddard did get the Democratic nomination, and Brewer went on to defeat him by a 54 to 42 percent margin in the November 2010 gubernatorial general election
.)
filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on July 6, 2010, asking that the law be declared invalid since it interferes with the immigration regulations "exclusively vested in the federal government." In a brief to the press, the department's lawyers referenced the notion of federal preemption
and stated that, "The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country," and that "The immigration framework set forth by Congress and administered by federal agencies reflects a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and humanitarian concerns – concerns that belong to the nation as a whole, not a single state." This pointed to an additional practical argument, that being that the law would result in federal authorities losing focus on their broader priorities in order to deal with an influx of deportations from Arizona. The Justice Department requested that the federal courts issue an injunction to enjoin enforcement of the law before it goes into effect. The suit does not argue that the law will lead to racial profiling, although department officials said they would continue to monitor that aspect when and if the measure went into effect.
A direct suit of a state by the federal government is rare, and the action held possible political consequences for the 2010 U.S. midterm elections
as well. It was also seen as a preemptive measure to discourage other states considering similar laws from moving forward with them. Immediate reaction to the Justice Department's decision was highly split, with liberal groups hailing it but with Governor Brewer calling it "nothing more than a massive waste of taxpayer funds." Senators Kyl and McCain released a joint statement noting that "the American people must wonder whether the Obama Administration is really committed to securing the border when it sues a state that is simply trying to protect its people by enforcing immigration law." Congressman Darrell Issa
, one of nineteen Republicans to sign a letter criticizing the suit on the day it was announced, said "For President Obama to stand in the way of a state which has taken action to stand up for its citizens against the daily threat of violence and fear is disgraceful and a betrayal of his Constitutional obligation to protect our citizens." The federal action also led to a surge in contributions to the governor's defense fund for the law; by July 8, total donations were over $500,000, with the large majority of them being for $100 or less and coming from around the nation.
The Arizona Latino Republican Association became the first Latino organization to come out in support of SB 1070 and filed a motion to intervene against the Justice Department's lawsuit challenging it. An attempt in the U.S. Senate to block funding for the Justice Department's lawsuit lost by a 55–43 vote that was mostly along party lines.
On July 28, 2010, Judge Bolton issued a ruling on the Justice Department suit, United States of America v. Arizona
, granting a preliminary injunction
that blocked the most key and controversial portions of SB 1070 from going into effect. These included requiring police to check the immigration status of those arrested or stopped, which the judge ruled would overwhelm the federal government handling of immigration cases, and could mean that legal immigrants would be wrongly arrested. Judge Bolton wrote that "Federal resources will be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determination that will flow from Arizona." Her ruling was not a final decision, but rather was based on the belief that the Justice Department was likely, but not certain, to win a full later trial in federal court on these aspects. Judge Bolton made no rulings in the other six lawsuits. Governor Brewer said that the injunction would be appealed, and on July 29 this was done in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
in San Francisco. State Senator Pearce predicted that the legal battle would eventually end up in the Supreme Court and likely be upheld by a 5–4 margin.
Judge Bolton's ruling let a number of other aspects of the law take effect on July 29, including the ability to prevent state officials from maintaining "sanctuary city
" policies and allowing civil suits against those policies, the mandating that state officials work with federal officials on matters related to illegal immigration, and the prohibition against stopping a vehicle in traffic to pick up day laborers. These parts of the law were not challenged by the Justice Department, but were in some of the other suits.
A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in the appeal case on November 1, 2010, and gave indications that it might reinstate but weaken parts of the law.
In February 2011, Arizona filed a countersuit against the federal government in the United States v. Arizona case, accusing it of failing to secure the Mexican border against large numbers of illegal immigrants. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne
acknowledged that precedent surrounding sovereign immunity in the United States
made the state's case difficult, but said, "We're asking the 9th Circuit to take a second look."
On April 11, 2011, the Ninth Circuit panel upheld the district court's ban on parts of the law taking effect, thus ruling in favor of the Obama administration and against Arizona. Judge Richard Paez
gave the majority opinion, in which Judge John T. Noonan, Jr.
joined; Judge Carlos Bea
dissented in part. Paez agreed with the administration's view that the state had intruded upon federal prerogatives. Noonan wrote in his concurrence: "The Arizona statute before us has become a symbol. For those sympathetic to immigrants to the United States, it is a challenge and a chilling foretaste of what other states might attempt." On May 9, 2011, Governor Brewer announced that Arizona would appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court rather than request a hearing en banc
before the Ninth Circuit; that appeal was filed on August 10, 2011. In response, the Justice Department requested that the Supreme Court stay out of the case, saying that the lower courts actions were appropriate. Observers thought it likely that the Supreme Court would take up the matter, but if it declined to step in, the case most likely would be returned to the trial judge in the District Court to review the case on it merits and determine whether the temporary injunction that blocked the law's most controversial provisions should become permanent. Bolton's court continues to oversee the other lawsuits.
Act (document)
An act is an instrument that records a fact or something that has been said, done, or agreed. Acts generally take the form of legal instruments of writing that have probative value and executory force...
in the U.S. state of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
that at the time of passage was the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
measure in recent U.S. history. It has received national and international attention and has spurred considerable controversy.
U.S. federal law requires all aliens
Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
over the age of 14 who remain in the United States for longer than 30 days to register with the U.S. government, and to have registration documents in their possession at all times. The Arizona Act additionally makes it a state misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents, requires that state law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigration status during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest" when there is reasonable suspicion
Reasonable suspicion
Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard of proof in United States law that is less than probable cause, the legal standard for arrests and warrants, but more than an "inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or 'hunch' ";...
that the individual is an illegal immigrant, bars state or local officials or agencies from restricting enforcement of federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
immigration law
Immigration law
Immigration law refers to national government policies which control the phenomenon of immigration to their country.Immigraton law, regarding foreign citizens, is related to nationality law, which governs the legal status of people, in matters such as citizenship...
s, and cracks down on those sheltering, hiring and transporting illegal aliens. The paragraph on intent in the legislation says it embodies an "attrition through enforcement" doctrine.
Critics of the legislation say it encourages racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
, while supporters say the law prohibits the use of race as the sole basis for investigating immigration status. The law was modified by Arizona House Bill 2162 within a week of its signing with the goal of addressing some of these concerns. There have been protests in opposition to the law in over 70 U.S. cities, including boycotts and calls for boycotts of Arizona. Polling has found the law to have majority support in Arizona and nationwide. Passage of the measure has prompted other states to consider adopting similar legislation.
The Act was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer
Jan Brewer
Janice Kay "Jan" Brewer is the 22nd and current Governor of the U.S. state of Arizona and a member of the Republican Party. She is the fourth woman, and third consecutive woman, to hold the office...
on April 23, 2010. It was scheduled to go into effect on July 29, 2010, ninety days after the end of the legislative session
Adjournment sine die
Adjournment sine die means "without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing". To adjourn an assembly sine die is to adjourn it for an indefinite period...
. Legal challenges over its constitutionality
Constitutionality
Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution. Acts that are not in accordance with the rules laid down in the constitution are deemed to be ultra vires.-See also:*ultra vires*Company law*Constitutional law...
and compliance with civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
law were filed, including one by the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, that also asked for an injunction against enforcement of the law. The day before the law was to take effect, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the law's most controversial provisions. Arizona has sought, unsuccessfully to date, to reverse that decision in the federal appeals courts.
Provisions
U.S. federal law requires aliens 14 years old or older who are in the country for longer than 30 days to register with the U.S. government and have registration documents in their possession at all times. The Act makes it a state misdemeanorMisdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
crime for an alien to be in Arizona without carrying the required documents and obligates police to make an attempt, when practicable during a "lawful stop, detention or arrest", to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion
Reasonable suspicion
Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard of proof in United States law that is less than probable cause, the legal standard for arrests and warrants, but more than an "inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or 'hunch' ";...
that the person is an illegal alien. Any person arrested cannot be released without confirmation of the person's legal immigration status by the federal government pursuant to § 1373(c) of Title 8 of the United States Code
Title 8 of the United States Code
Title 8 of the United States Code outlines the role of aliens and nationality in the United States Code.* The first eleven chapters have been repealed, omitted, or transferred to elsewhere in the Code, in their entirety.-External links:...
. A first offense carries a fine of up to $100, plus court costs, and up to 20 days in jail; subsequent offenses can result in up to 30 days in jail (SB 1070 required a minimum fine of $500 for a first violation, and for a second violation a minimum $1,000 fine and a maximum jail sentence of 6 months). A person is "presumed to not be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States" if he or she presents any of the following four forms of identification: a valid Arizona driver license
Driver's license in the United States
In the United States, nearly all driver's licenses are issued by individual states , rather than the federal government. Drivers are normally required to obtain a license from their state of residence, and all states recognize each other's licenses for temporary visitors subject to normal age...
; a valid Arizona nonoperating identification license; a valid tribal enrollment card
Blood quantum laws
Blood Quantum Laws or Indian Blood Laws is an umbrella term that describes legislation enacted in the United States to define membership in Native American tribes or nations...
or other tribal identification; or any valid federal, state, or local government-issued identification
Identity documents in the United States
There is no true national identity card in the United States of America, in the sense that there is no federal agency with nationwide jurisdiction that directly issues such cards to all American citizens for mandatory regular use...
, if the issuer requires proof of legal presence in the United States as a condition of issuance.
The Act also prohibits state, county, and local officials from limiting or restricting "the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law" and provides that any legal Arizona resident can sue the agencies or officials in question to compel such full enforcement. If the person who brings suit prevails, that person may be entitled to reimbursement of court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
In addition, the Act makes it a crime for anyone, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, to hire or to be hired from a vehicle which "blocks or impedes the normal movement of traffic." Vehicles used in such manner are subject to mandatory immobilization or impoundment. Moreover, for a person in violation of a criminal law, it is an additional offense to transport an alien "in furtherance" of the alien's illegal presence in the U.S., to "conceal, harbor or shield" an alien, or to encourage or induce an alien to immigrate to the state, if the person "knows or recklessly disregards the fact" that the alien is in the U.S. illegally or that immigration would be illegal. Violation is a class 1 misdemeanor if fewer than ten illegal aliens are involved, and a class 6 felony if ten or more are involved. The offender is subject to a fine of at least $1,000 for each illegal alien involved. The transportation provision includes exceptions for child protective services workers, and ambulance attendants and emergency medical technicians.
Arizona HB 2162
On April 30, the Arizona legislature passed, and Governor Brewer signed, House Bill 2162, which modified the Act that had been signed a week earlier, with the amended text stating that "prosecutors would not investigate complaints based on race, color or national origin." The new text also states that police may only investigate immigration status incident to a "lawful stop, detention, or arrest", lowers the original fine from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $100, and changes incarceration limits for first-time offenders from 6 months to 20 days.Background and passage
Arizona is the first state to propose such far-reaching legislation. Prior law in Arizona, like the law in most other states, does not mandate that law enforcement personnel ask about the immigration status of those they encounter. Many police departments discourage such inquiries to avoid deterring immigrants from reporting crimes and cooperating in other investigations.Arizona had an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in April 2010, a figure that had increased fivefold since 1990. As the state with the most illegal crossings of the Mexico – United States border, its remote and dangerous deserts are the entry point for thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans. By the late 1990s, Tucson Border Patrol Sector had become the location for the most number of arrests by the United States Border Patrol
United States Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol is a federal law enforcement agency within U.S. Customs and Border Protection , a component of the Department of Homeland Security . It is an agency in the Department of Homeland Security that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to...
.
Whether illegal immigrants commit a disproportionate number of crimes is uncertain, with different authorities and academics claiming that the rate for this group was the same, greater, or less than that of the overall population. Perception bias leads many on both sides of the debate to reject or rationalize crime rate statistics. There was also anxiety that the Mexican Drug War
Mexican Drug War
The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was...
, which had caused thousands of deaths, would spill over into the U.S. Moreover, by the late 2000s Phoenix was seeing an average of one kidnapping per day, earning it the reputation as America's worst city in that regard.
Arizona has a history of passing restrictions on illegal immigration, including legislation in 2007 that imposed heavy sanctions on employers hiring illegal immigrants. Measures similar to SB 1070 had been passed by the legislature in 2006 and 2008, only to be vetoed by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
. She was subsequently elevated to Secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration and was replaced by Republican Secretary of State of Arizona
Secretary of State of Arizona
The Secretary of State of Arizona is an elected position in the U.S. state of Arizona. Since Arizona has no lieutenant governor, the Secretary stands first in the line of succession to the governorship. The Secretary also serves as acting governor whenever the governor is incapacitated or out of...
Jan Brewer. There is a similar history of referenda, such as the Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
Proposition 200, an Arizona state initiative passed in November 2004 with 56% of the vote, requires individuals to produce proof of citizenship before they may register to vote or apply for public benefits in Arizona...
that have sought to restrict illegal immigrants' use of social services. The 'attrition through enforcement' doctrine is one that think tanks such as the Center for Immigration Studies
Center for Immigration Studies
The Center for Immigration Studies is a non-profit research organization that advocates Immigration reduction in the United States. Founded in 1985, its executive director is Mark Krikorian. As a 501 organization, it is subject to limits or absolute prohibitions on engaging in political...
have been supporting for several years.
Impetus for SB 1070 is attributed to shifting demographics leading to a larger Hispanic population, increased drugs- and human smuggling-related violence in Mexico and Arizona, and a struggling state economy and economic anxiety during the late-2000s recession. State residents were also frustrated by the lack of federal progress on immigration, which they viewed as even more disappointing given that Napolitano was in the administration.
The major sponsor of, and legislative force behind, the bill was State Senator Russell Pearce
Russell Pearce
Russell Pearce was a Republican Arizona State Senator representing Legislative District 18, which covers most of western and central Mesa and small portions of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Arizona, USA until ousted in a November 2011 recall election by Senator-elect Jerry Lewis...
, who had long been one of Arizona's most vocal opponents of illegal immigration and who had successfully pushed through several prior pieces of tough legislation against those he termed "invaders on the American sovereignty". Much of the drafting of the bill was done by Kris Kobach
Kris Kobach
Kris W. Kobach is the Secretary of State of Kansas. He is also currently of counsel with the Immigration Law Reform Institute in Washington, D.C....
, a professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law and a figure long associated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform
Federation for American Immigration Reform
The Federation for American Immigration Reform is a non-profit tax exempt educational organization in the United States that advocates changes in U.S. immigration policy that would result in significant reductions in immigration, both legal and illegal...
who had written immigration-related bills in many other parts of the country. Pearce and Kobach had worked together on past legislative efforts regarding immigration, and Pearce contacted Kobach when he was ready to pursue the idea of the state enforcing federal immigration laws. A December 2009 meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council is a politically conservative 501 non-profit Policy Organization, consisting of both state legislators and members of the private sector. ALEC's mission statement describes the organization's purpose as the advancement of free-market principles, limited...
in Washington, D.C., resulted in that body drafting model legislation
Model act
In the United States a model act is statutory text, typically drafted by the Uniform Law Commission , that is meant to serve as a guide for subsequent legislation...
that embodied the ideas that Pearce presented.
The proposed bill reached the Arizona legislature in January 2010 and quickly gained 36 cosponsors. The Arizona State Senate approved an early version of the bill in February 2010. Saying, "Enough is enough," Pearce stated figuratively that this new bill would remove handcuffs from law enforcement and place them on violent offenders.
On March 27, 2010, 58-year-old Robert Krentz
Robert Krentz
Robert N. Krentz Jr. was a prominent rancher in the U.S. state of Arizona. Active in a family cattle ranching business stretching back nearly 100 years, he and his family ranch were inducted into the Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame in 2008...
and his dog were shot and killed while Krentz was doing fence work on his large ranch roughly 19 miles (30.6 km) from the Mexican border. This incident gave a tangible public face to fears about immigration-related crime. Arizona police were not able to name a murder suspect but traced a set of footprints from the crime scene south towards the border. The resulting speculation that the killer was an illegal alien increased support among the public for the measure. For a while there was talk of naming the law after Krentz. Some state legislators (both for and against the law) believe, however, that the impact of the Krentz killing has been overstated as a factor in the bill's passing.
The bill, with a number of changes made to it, passed the Arizona House of Representatives
Arizona House of Representatives
The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its members are elected to two-year terms with a term limit of four consecutive terms...
on April 13 by a 35–21 party-line vote. The revised measure then passed the State Senate on April 19 by a 17–11 vote that also closely followed party lines, with all but one Republican voting for the bill, ten Democrats voting against the bill, and two Democrats not voting.
Once a bill passes, the governor has five days to make a decision to sign, veto, or let it pass unsigned. The question then became whether or not Governor Brewer would sign the bill into law, as she had remained silent on the measure while weighing the consequences. Immigration had not been a prime focus of her political career up to this point, although as secretary of state she had supported Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
Arizona Proposition 200 (2004)
Proposition 200, an Arizona state initiative passed in November 2004 with 56% of the vote, requires individuals to produce proof of citizenship before they may register to vote or apply for public benefits in Arizona...
. As governor, she had made another push for Arizona Proposition 100 (2010)
Arizona Proposition 100 (2010)
Proposition 100 is a ballot measure to temporarily raise the Arizona state sales tax by 1 cent per dollar, with the proceeds going to education, health and human services, and public safety. The measure passed. The measure adds to Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Arizona...
, a one percent increase in the state sales tax to prevent cuts in education, health and human services, and public safety, despite opposition from within her own party. These preceding political moves, along with an upcoming tough Republican Party primary in the 2010 Arizona gubernatorial election
Arizona gubernatorial election, 2010
The Arizona gubernatorial election of 2010 was held on November 2, 2010 to elect the Governor of Arizona. Incumbent Republican Jan Brewer ran for her first full term. Party primaries were held on August 24, 2010...
from other conservative opponents supporting the bill, were all considered major factors in her decision. During the bill's development, her staff had gone over its language line by line with State Senator Pearce, but she had also said she had concerns about several of its provisions. The Mexican Senate urged the governor to veto the measure and the Mexican Embassy to the U.S. raised concerns about potential racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
that may result. Citizen messages to Brewer, however, were 3–1 in favor of the law. A Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
poll taken between the House and Senate votes showed wide support for the bill among likely voters in the state, with 70 percent in favor and 23 percent opposed. Of those same voters, 53 percent were at least somewhat concerned that actions taken due to the measures in the bill would violate the civil rights of some American citizens. Brewer's staff said that she was considering the legal issues, the impact on the state's business, and the feelings of the citizens in coming to her decision. They added that "she agonizes over these things," and the governor also prayed over the matter. Brewer's political allies said her decision would cause her political trouble no matter which way she decided. Most observers expected that in the end, she would sign the bill, and on April 23 she did.
During the time of the signing, there were over a thousand people at the Arizona State Capitol
Arizona State Capitol
The Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, formerly housed the Territorial and State Legislatures, as well as various executive offices...
both in support of and opposition to the bill, and some minor civil unrest occurred. Against concerns that the measure would promote racial profiling, Brewer stated that no such behavior would be tolerated: "We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent or social status." She vowed to ensure that police forces had proper training relative to the law and civil rights, and on the same day as the signing issued an executive order requiring additional training for all officers on how to implement SB 1070 without engaging in racial profiling. Ultimately, she said, "We have to trust our law enforcement." (The training materials developed by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board were released in June 2010.)
Sponsor Pearce called the bill's signing "a good day for America."
News of the law and the debate around immigration gained national attention, especially on cable news television channels, where topics that attract strong opinions are often given extra airtime.
Nevertheless, those voting on the bill were later surprised by the reaction it gained. State Representative Michele Reagan reflected three months later: "The majority of us who voted yes on that bill, myself included, did not expect or encourage an outcry from the public. The majority of us just voted for it because we thought we could try to fix the problem. Nobody envisioned boycotts. Nobody anticipated the emotion, the prayer vigils. The attitude was: These are the laws, let's start following them." State Representative Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Sinema is a Democratic member of the Arizona State Senate, where she represents the 15th district. She previously served three terms in the Arizona House of Representatives from January 2005 to January 2011.-Early life and career:...
, the assistant House minority leader who tried to stop the bill and voted against it, similarly reflected: "I knew it would be bad, but no one thought it would be this big. No one."
The immigration issue also gained center stage in the re-election campaign of Republican U.S. Senator from Arizona John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, who had been a past champion of federal immigration reform measures such as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, or, in its full name, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 was a bill discussed in the 110th United States Congress that would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 to...
. Also faced with a primary battle
United States Senate election in Arizona, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 2, 2010 along with other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on August 24,...
– against the more conservative J. D. Hayworth
J. D. Hayworth
John David Hayworth, Jr. , usually known as J. D. Hayworth, is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007 from Arizona's 5th congressional district...
, who had made measures against illegal immigration a central point of his candidacy – McCain supported SB 1070 only hours before its passage in the State Senate. McCain subsequently became a vocal defender of the law, saying that the state had been forced to take action given the federal government's inability to control the border.
Opinion polls
A Rasmussen ReportsRasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
poll done nationally around the time of the signing indicated that 60 percent of Americans were in favor of and 31 percent opposed to legislation that allows local police to "stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant." The same poll also indicated that 58 percent are at least somewhat concerned that "efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants will also end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens." A national Gallup Poll found that more than three-quarters of Americans had heard about the law, and of those who had, 51 percent were in favor of it against 39 percent opposed. An Angus Reid Public Opinion
Angus Reid Public Opinion
Angus Reid Public Opinion is an international public affairs practice. It was established in 2006 under the name Angus Reid Strategies by Dr Angus Reid, a Canadian sociologist who founded his first research company in 1979. Reid sold the Angus Reid Group to Paris-based Ipsos SA in 2000...
poll indicated that 71 percent of Americans said they supported the notion of requiring their own police to determine people's status if there was "reasonable suspicion" the people were illegal immigrants, and arresting those people if they could not prove they were legally in the United States. A nationwide New York Times/CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
poll found similar results to the others, with 51 percent of respondents saying the Arizona law was "about right" in its approach to the problem of illegal immigration, 36 percent saying it went too far, and 9 percent saying it did not go far enough. Another CBS News poll, conducted a month after the signing, showed 52 percent seeing the law as about right, 28 percent thinking it goes too far, and 17 percent thinking it does not go far enough. A 57 percent majority thought that the federal government should be responsible for determining immigration law. A national Fox News poll found that 61 percent of respondents thought Arizona was right to take action itself rather than wait for federal action, and 64 percent thought the Obama administration should wait and see how the law works in practice rather than trying to stop it right away. Experts caution that in general, polling has difficulty reflecting complex immigration issues and law.
Another Rasmussen poll, done statewide after several days of heavy news coverage about the controversial law and its signing, found a large majority of Arizonans still supported it, by a 64 percent to 30 percent margin. Rasmussen also found that Brewer's approval ratings as governor had shot up, going from 40 percent of likely voters before the signing to 56 percent after, and that her margin over prospective Democratic gubernatorial opponent, State Attorney General Terry Goddard
Terry Goddard
Samuel Pearson "Terry" Goddard III was the Attorney General of Arizona, from 2003 to 2011, who also served as Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona from 1984 to 1990....
(who opposes the law) had widened. A poll done by Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
researchers found that 81 percent of registered Latino voters in the state opposed SB 1070.
United States
In the United States, supporters and opponents of the bill have roughly followed party lines, with most DemocratsDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
opposing the bill and most Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
supporting it.
The bill was criticized by President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
who called it "misguided" and said it would "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe." Obama did later note that the HB 2162 modification had stipulated that the law not be applied in a discriminatory fashion, but the president said there was still the possibility of suspected illegal immigrants "being harassed and arrested". He repeatedly called for federal immigration reform legislation to forestall such actions among the states and as the only long-term solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Governor Brewer and President Obama met at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in early June 2010 to discuss immigration and border security issues in the wake of SB 1070; the meeting was termed pleasant, but brought about little change in the participants' stances.
Secretary of Homeland Security and former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she had "deep concerns" about the law and that it would divert necessary law enforcement resources from combating violent criminals. (As governor, Napolitano had consistently vetoed similar legislation throughout her term.) U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
said the federal government was considering several options, including a court challenge based on the law leading to possible civil rights violations. Michael Posner
Michael Posner (lawyer)
Michael H. Posner is an American lawyer, the Founding Executive Director and later the President of Human Rights First , and the current Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the United States.- Early years :Posner received a B.A...
, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is the head of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor within the United States Department of State...
, brought up the law in discussions with a Chinese delegation to illustrate human rights areas the U.S. needed to improve on. This led McCain and fellow senator from Arizona Jon Kyl
Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.The son...
to strongly object to any possibly implied comparison of the law to human rights abuses in China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
. Senior Democratic U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
have criticized the law, with Bloomberg stating that it sends exactly the wrong message to international companies and travelers.
In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee
United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and...
, McCain drew out that Napolitano had made her remarks before having actually read the law. Holder also acknowledged that he had not read the statute. The admissions by the two cabinet secretaries that they had not yet read SB 1070 became an enduring criticism of the reaction against the law.
Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
accused the party in power of being willing to "criticize bills (and divide the country with ensuing rhetoric) without actually reading them." Governor Brewer's election campaign issued a video featuring a frog hand puppet that sang "reading helps you know what you're talkin' 'bout" and urged viewers to fully read the law. In reaction to the question, President Obama told a group of Republican senators that he had in fact read the law.
Democrat Linda Sánchez
Linda Sánchez
Linda T. Sánchez is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. She is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
, U.S. Representative from California's 39th congressional district
California's 39th congressional district
California's 39th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California based in Los Angeles County. The district covers part of southeastern Los Angeles County and includes Lynwood, Cerritos, Lakewood, La Mirada, and Whittier....
, has claimed that white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
groups are in part to blame for the law's passage, saying, "There's a concerted effort behind promoting these kinds of laws on a state-by-state basis by people who have ties to white supremacy groups. It's been documented. It's not mainstream politics." Republican Representative Gary Miller
Gary Miller
Gary Gene Miller is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 41st, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education and career:...
, from California's 42nd congressional district
California's 42nd congressional district
California's 42nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that covers parts of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties in Southern California.The district is currently represented by Republican Gary G...
, called her remarks "an outrageous accusation [and a] red herring. [She's] trying to change the debate from what the law says." Sánchez' district is in Los Angeles County and Miller's district is in both Los Angeles County and neighboring Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
.
The law has been popular among the Republican Party base electorate; however, several Republicans have opposed aspects of the measure, mostly from those who have represented heavily Hispanic states. These include former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and campaigning U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio is the junior United States Senator from Florida . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives ....
, and former George W. Bush chief political strategist Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
. Some analysts have stated that Republican support for the law gives short-term political benefits by energizing their base and independents, but longer term carries the potential of alienating the growing Hispanic population from the party. The issue played a role in several Republican primary contests during the 2010 congressional election season.
One Arizona Democrat who defended some of the motivation behind the bill was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
Gabrielle Giffords
Gabrielle Dee "Gabby" Giffords is an American politician. A Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, she has represented since 2007. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress...
, who said her constituents were "sick and tired" of the federal government failing to protect the border, that the current situation was "completely unacceptable", and that the legislation was a "clear calling that the federal government needs to do a better job". However, she stopped short of supporting the law itself, saying it "does nothing to secure our border" and that it "stands in direct contradiction to our past and, as a result, threatens our future." Her opposition to the law became one of the issues in her 2010 re-election campaign, in which she narrowly prevailed over her Republican opponent, who supported it.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
included the dispute over SB 1070 in an August 2010 report to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is a United Nations agency that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948...
, as an example to other countries of how fractious issues can be resolved under the rule of law. Governor Brewer demanded that the reference to the law be removed from the report, seeing its inclusion as implying that the law was a violation of human rights and saying that any notion of submitting U.S. laws to U.N. review was "internationalism run amok".
Mexico
Mexican President Felipe CalderónFelipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
's office said that "the Mexican government condemns the approval of the law [and] the criminalization of migration." President Calderón also characterized the new law as a "violation of human rights". Calderón repeated his criticism during a subsequent state visit
State visit
A state visit is a formal visit by a foreign head of state to another nation, at the invitation of that nation's head of state. State visits are the highest form of diplomatic contact between two nations, and are marked by ceremonial pomp and diplomatic protocol. In parliamentary democracies, heads...
to the White House.
The measure was also strongly criticized by Mexican health minister José Ángel Córdova, former education minister Josefina Vázquez Mota
Josefina Vázquez Mota
Josefina Eugenia Vázquez Mota . Mexican economist, businesswoman and politician, member of the National Action Party .-Family:...
, and Governor of Baja California José Guadalupe Osuna Millán
José Guadalupe Osuna Millán
José Guadalupe Osuna Millán is a Mexican economist and politician member of the National Action Party who is the current Governor of Baja California.-Personal life and education:...
, with Osuna saying it "could disrupt the indispensable economic, political and cultural exchanges of the entire border region." The Mexican Foreign Ministry
Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (Mexico)
The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for Mexico's foreign affairs.-Missions:Mexico currently has:* 73 Embassies* 33 Consulates-Generals* 35 Consulates...
issued a travel advisory
Travel advisory
A travel advisory is a public notice issued by a government agency to provide information about the relative safety of travelling to or visiting one or more specific foreign destinations...
for its citizens visiting Arizona, saying "It must be assumed that every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time."
In response to these comments, Chris Hawley of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
said that "Mexico has a law that is no different from Arizona's", referring to legislation which gives local police forces the power to check documents of people suspected of being in the country illegally. Immigration and human rights activists have also noted that Mexican authorities frequently engage in racial profiling, harassment, and shakedowns against migrants from Central America.
The law imperiled the 28th annual, binational Border Governors Conference
Border Governors Conference
The Border Governors Conference is an annual, bi-national meeting between the governors of the four American states and six Mexican states that form the Mexico – United States border...
, scheduled to be held in Phoenix in September 2010 and to be hosted by Governor Brewer. The governors of the six Mexican states belonging to the conference vowed to boycott it in protest of the law, saying SB 1070 is "based on ethnic and cultural prejudice contrary to fundamental rights," and Brewer said in response that she was canceling the gathering. Governors Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
of California, U.S. border governors who oppose the law, supported moving the conference to another state and going forward with it, and it was subsequently held in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
without Brewer attending.
Arizona law enforcement
Arizona's law enforcement groups have been split on the bill, with statewide rank-and-file police officer groups generally supporting it and police chief associations opposing it.The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police criticized the legislation, calling the provisions of the bill "problematic" and expressing that it will negatively affect the ability of law enforcement agencies across the state to fulfill their many responsibilities in a timely manner. Additionally, some officers have repeated the past concern that illegal immigrants may come to fear the police and not contact them in situations of emergency or in instances where they have valuable knowledge of a crime. However, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents the city's police officers, has supported the legislation and lobbied aggressively for its passage. Officers supporting the measure say they have many indicators other than race they can use to determine whether someone may be an illegal immigrant, such as absent identification or conflicting statements made.
The measure was hailed by Joe Arpaio
Joe Arpaio
Joseph M. "Joe" Arpaio is the elected Sheriff of Maricopa County in the U.S. state of Arizona. First voted into office in 1992, Arpaio is responsible for law enforcement in Maricopa County. This includes management of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, county jail, courtroom security,...
, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona
Maricopa County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.0% White*5.0% Black*2.1% Native American*3.5% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.5% Two or more races*12.7% Other races*29.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
– known for his tough crackdowns on illegal immigration within his own jurisdiction – who hoped the measure would cause the federal action to seal the border. Arpaio said, "I think they'll be afraid that other states will follow this new law that's now been passed."
Religious organizations and perspectives
Activists within the church were present on both sides of the immigration debate, and both proponents and opponents of the law appealed to religious arguments for support.State Senator Pearce, a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) which has a substantial population in Arizona, frequently said that his efforts to push forward this legislation was based on that church's 13 Articles of Faith, one of which instructs in obeying the law. This association caused a backlash against the LDS Church and threatened its proselytizing efforts among the area's Hispanic population. The church emphasized that it took no position on the law or immigration in general and that Pearce did not speak for it. The following year the LDS Church took an official position on the issue which opposes Pearce's approach to immigration, saying, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned that any state legislation that only contains enforcement provisions is likely to fall short of the high moral standard of treating each other as children of God. The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship." (Pearce, who in January 2011 had risen to become President of the Arizona Senate, suffered a startling defeat when he lost a November 2011 recall election
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
. Among the reasons given for his loss were the desire for greater civility in politics and a lessening of the tension over immigration policy, and a loss of support for Pearce among LDS Church members based on character issues.)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced the law, characterizing it as draconian and saying it "could lead to the wrongful questioning and arrest of U.S. citizens." The National Council of Churches
National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 37 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace...
also criticized the law, saying that it ran counter to centuries of biblical teachings regarding justice and neighborliness.
Other members of the Christian clergy differed on the law. United Methodist Church Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño
Minerva G. Carcaño
Minerva G. Carcaño is the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the episcopacy of The United Methodist Church , the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. She was elected in 2004. She currently serves as Bishop of the Phoenix Episcopal Area, Desert Southwest Conference of...
of Arizona's Desert Southwest Conference opposed it as "unwise, short sighted and mean spirited" and led a mission of prominent religious figures to Washington to lobby for comprehensive immigration reform. But others stressed the Biblical command to follow laws. While there was a perception that most Christian groups opposed the law, Mark Tooley
Mark Tooley
Mark Tooley, born 1965, became president in 2009 of the Washington-D.C. based Institute on Religion and Democracy , a conservative religious thinktank noted for its critique of liberal religious groups....
of the Institute on Religion and Democracy
Institute on Religion and Democracy
The Institute on Religion and Democracy is a Christian think tank that promotes Christian conservatism in public life. The organization comments on current events in the Christian community...
said that immigration was a political issue that "Christians across the spectrum can disagree about" and that liberal churches were simply more outspoken on this matter.
Concerns over potential civil rights violations
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said the legislation was "an unconstitutional and costly measure that will violate the civil rights of all Arizonans." Mayor Chris ColemanChris Coleman (politician)
Christopher "Chris" B. Coleman is a Minnesota politician and the mayor of St. Paul. He defeated incumbent mayor Randy Kelly in 2005 and took office on January 3, 2006.- Family and early career :...
of Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, labeled it as "draconian" as did Democratic Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
member Garnet Coleman
Garnet Coleman
Garnet F. Coleman is a U.S. politician and a member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 147 since 1991. He is the son of John B. Coleman, M.D...
. Edwin Kneedler, the U.S. Deputy Solicitor General, also criticized the legislation for its potential infringement on the civil liberties of Arizona's citizens and lawful permanent residents.
Proponents of the law have rejected such criticism, and argued that the law was reasonable, limited, and carefully crafted. Stewart Baker
Stewart baker
Stewart Abercrombie Baker was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the United States Department of Homeland Security under the Presidency of George W...
, a former Homeland Security official in the George W. Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
, said, "The coverage of this law and the text of the law are a little hard to square. There's nothing in the law that requires cities to stop people without cause, or encourages racial or ethnic profiling by itself."
Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives Steve Montenegro
Steve Montenegro
Steve Montenegro is an American politician from Litchfield Park, Arizona who has served as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives since January 2003. He is a Hispanic Republican politician and current Speaker Pro Tempore. He was first elected in 2008....
supported the law, saying that "This bill has nothing to do with race or profiling." Montenegro, who legally immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
with his family when he was four, stated, "I am saying if you here illegally, get in line, come in the right way."
Some Latino leaders have compared the law to Apartheid in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
or the Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn
Janice Hahn
Janice Kay Hahn is the U.S. Representative from California's 36th congressional district and a member of the Democratic Party. She was previously a Los Angeles City Councilwoman representing the 15th district from 2001 to 2011...
and Congressman Jared Polis
Jared Polis
Jared Schutz Polis is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
of Colorado also said the law's requirement to carry papers all the time was reminiscent of the anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany
Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany
Antisemitism and the persecution of Jews represented a central tenet of Nazi ideology. In their 25-point Party Program, published in 1920, Nazi party members publicly declared their intention to segregate Jews from "Aryan" society and to abrogate Jews' political, legal, and civil rights. Nazi...
and feared that Arizona was headed towards becoming a police state
Police state
A police state is one in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population...
. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles said, "I can't imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation."
The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
called for an end to the comparisons with Nazi Germany, saying that no matter how odious or unconstitutional the Arizona law might be, it did not compare to the role that Nazi identity cards played in what eventually became the extermination of European Jews
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
In its final form, HB 2162 limits the use of race. It states: "A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution." The U.S. and Arizona supreme courts have held that race may be considered in enforcing immigration law. In United States v. Brignoni-Ponce
United States v. Brignoni-Ponce
United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, , was the case in which the Supreme Court determined it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment for a roving patrol car to stop a vehicle solely on the basis of the driver appearing to be of Mexican descent...
, the U.S. Supreme Court found: “The likelihood that any given person of Mexican ancestry is an alien is high enough to make Mexican appearance a relevant factor.” The Arizona Supreme Court agrees that “enforcement of immigration laws often involves a relevant consideration of ethnic factors.” Both decisions say that race alone, however, is an insufficient basis to stop or arrest.
Protests
Thousands of people staged protests in state capital PhoenixPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
over the law around the time of its signing, and a pro-immigrant activist called the measure "racist". Passage of the HB 2162 modifications to the law, although intended to address some of the criticisms of it, did little to change the minds of the law's opponents.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the law in over 70 U.S. cities on May 1, 2010, a day traditionally used around the world to assert workers' rights
International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...
. A rally in Los Angeles, attended by Cardinal Mahoney, attracted between 50,000 and 60,000 people, with protesters waving Mexican flags and chanting "Sí se puede
Sí se puede
Sí, se puede is the motto of the United Farm Workers. In 1972, during Cesar Chavez's 24 day fast in Phoenix, Arizona, he and UFW's co-founder, Dolores Huerta, came up with the slogan....
". The city had become the national epicenter of protests against the Arizona law. Around 25,000 people were at a protest in Dallas, and more than 5,000 were in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Milwaukee, while rallies in other cities generally attracted around a thousand people or so. Democratic U.S. Congressman from Illinois Luis Gutiérrez
Luis Gutiérrez
Luis Vicente Gutiérrez is an American politician and the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. Gutiérrez was the first Latino to be elected to Congress from the Midwest. From 1986 until his election to Congress he served as a member of the Chicago City Council representing the 26th ward...
was part of a 35-person group arrested in front of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in a planned act of civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
that was also urging President Obama to push for comprehensive immigration reform. There and in some other locations, demonstrators expressed frustration with what they saw as the administration's lack of action on immigration reform, with signs holding messages such as "Hey Obama! Don't deport my mama."
Protests both for and against the Act took place over Memorial Day Weekend in Phoenix and commanded thousands of people. Those opposing it, mostly consisting of Latinos, marched five miles to the State Capitol in high heat, while those supporting it met in a stadium in an event arranged by elements of the Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
.
Protests against the law extended to the arts and sports world as well. Colombian pop singer Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
came to Phoenix and gave a joint press conference against the bill with Mayor of Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
Phil Gordon
Phil Gordon (politician)
Phil Gordon is an American Democratic party politician, and the 58th and current mayor of Phoenix, Arizona. He was sworn in as mayor on January 2, 2004.-Early life, education, and early career:...
. Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
, of part Mexican descent and raised in Arizona, also appeared in Phoenix and said, "Mexican-Americans are not going to take this lying down." A May 16 concert in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
's Zócalo
Zócalo
The Zócalo is the main plaza or square in the heart of the historic center of Mexico City. The plaza used to be known simply as the "Main Square" or "Arms Square," and today its formal name is Plaza de la Constitución...
, called Prepa Si Youth For Dignity: We Are All Arizona, drew some 85,000 people to hear Molotov
Molotov (band)
Molotov is a four-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican rock band formed in Mexico City on September 23, 1995. Their lyrics feature a mixture of Spanish and English, rapped and sung by all members of the group. Musically, Molotov blends heavy basslines with heavy guitar riffs...
, Jaguares
Jaguares (rock band)
Jaguares is a Mexican alternative rock band formed by former Caifanes lead singer Saúl Hernández, ex-Caifan Alfonso André , and two long-time friends Federico Fong and José Manuel Aguilera .-History:...
, and Maldita Vecindad
Maldita Vecindad
La Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio are a band formed in Mexico City in 1985. They are pioneers in rock en Español and are one of the most influential rock bands in Latin America....
headline a seven-hour show in protest against the law.
The Major League Baseball Players Association
Major League Baseball Players Association
The Major League Baseball Players Association is the union of professional major-league baseball players.-History of MLBPA:The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players...
, of whose members one quarter are born outside the U.S., said that the law "could have a negative impact on hundreds of major league players," especially since many teams come to Arizona for spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
, and called for it to be "repealed or modified promptly." A Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
game at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
where the Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field...
were visiting the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
saw demonstrators protesting the law. Protesters focused on the Diamondbacks because owner Ken Kendrick
Ken Kendrick
Earl G. "Ken" Kendrick Jr. is a baseball executive with the National League Arizona Diamondbacks. He became part-owner with the team's inception in 1995 and Managing General Partner in 2004, replacing Jerry Colangelo after a lengthy disagreement over Colangelo's role with the franchise he founded;...
had been a prominent fundraiser in Republican causes, but he in fact opposed the law. The Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
wore their "Los Suns" uniforms normally used for the league's "Noche Latina" program for their May 5, 2010 (Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla...
) playoff game
2010 NBA Playoffs
The 2010 NBA Playoffs was the postseason for the National Basketball Association's 2009–10 season. The playoffs started on April 17, 2010 with ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and NBA TV broadcasting the games in the United States...
against the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
to show their support for Arizona's Latino community and to voice disapproval of the immigration law. The Suns' political action, rare in American team sports, created a firestorm and drew opposition from many of the teams' fans; President Obama highlighted it, while conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
called the move "cowardice, pure and simple."
Boycotts
BoycottBoycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
s of Arizona were organized in response to SB 1070, with resolutions by city governments being among the first to materialize. The government of San Francisco
Government of San Francisco
As the only consolidated city-county in California, the government of the City and County of San Francisco is defined by the , which is similar to the other counties of California and defines several officers and entities....
, the Los Angeles City Council
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
, and city officials in Oakland, Minneapolis, Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, Denver, and Seattle all took specific action, usually by banning some of their employees from work-related travel to Arizona or by limiting city business done with companies headquartered in Arizona.
In an attempt to push back against the Los Angeles City Council's action, which was valued at $56 million, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce
Gary Pierce
Gary Pierce is a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission and a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Mr. Pierce was elected to the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2006....
sent a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
, suggesting that he'd "be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so that Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation." Such a move was infeasible for reasons of ownership and governance, and Pierce later stated that he was not making a literal threat to cut power to the city.
Raul Grijalva
Raúl M. Grijalva is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district includes half of metro Tucson, all of Yuma and Nogales, and some peripheral parts of metro Phoenix.-Early life, education and career:...
, from Arizona's 7th congressional district
Arizona's 7th congressional district
Arizona's 7th congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of Arizona. Situated in the southwestern part of the state, it includes all of Yuma County and parts of La Paz, Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties....
, had been the first prominent officeholder to call for an economic boycott of his state, by industries from manufacturing to tourism, in response to SB 1070. His call was echoed by La Opinión
La Opinión
La Opinión is a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, USA and distributed throughout the six counties of Southern California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles . It is published by...
, the nation's largest Spanish-language newspaper. Calls for various kinds of boycotts were also spread through social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
sites, and there were reports of individuals or groups changing their plans or activities in protest of the law. The prospect of an adverse economic impact made Arizonan business leaders and groups nervous, and Phoenix officials estimated that the city could lose up to $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years due to the controversy over the law. Phoenix Mayor Gordon urged people not to punish the entire state as a consequence.
Major organizations opposing the law, such as the National Council of La Raza
National Council of La Raza
The National Council of La Raza is a non-profit and non-partisan advocacy group in the United States, focused on improving opportunities for Hispanics. It is sometimes confused with La Raza Unida...
, refrained from initially supporting a boycott, knowing that such actions are difficult to execute successfully and even if done cause broad economic suffering, including among the people they are supporting. Arizona did have a past case of a large-scale boycott during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it lost many conventions and several hundred million dollars in revenues after Governor Evan Mecham's cancellation of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day state holiday and a subsequent failed initial referendum to restore it. La Raza subsequently switched its position regarding SB 1070 and became one of the leaders of the boycott effort.
The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce opposed both the law and the idea of boycotting, saying the latter would only hurt small businesses and the state’s economy, which was already badly damaged by the collapse of real estate prices and the late-2000s recession. Other state business groups opposed a boycott for the same reasons. Religious groups opposed to the law split on whether a boycott was advisable, with Bishop Carcaño saying one "would only extend our recession by three to five years and hit those who are poorest among us." Representative Grijalva said he wanted to keep a boycott restricted to conferences and conventions and only for a limited time: "The idea is to send a message, not grind down the state economy." Governor Brewer said that she was disappointed and surprised at the proposed boycotts – "How could further punishing families and businesses, large and small, be a solution viewed as constructive?" – but said that the state would not back away from the law. President Obama took no position on the matter, saying, "I'm the president of the United States, I don't endorse boycotts or not endorse boycotts. That's something that private citizens can make a decision about."
Sports-related boycotts were proposed as well. U.S. Congressman from New York José Serrano asked baseball commissioner Bud Selig
Bud Selig
Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is the ninth and current Commissioner of Major League Baseball, having served in that capacity since 1992 as the acting commissioner, and as the official commissioner since 1998...
to move the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 82nd in-season exhibition game between the All-Stars of the National League and the American League ; the leagues composing Major League Baseball. The event was held on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the...
from Chase Field
Chase Field
Chase Field is a baseball stadium located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona and is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. It opened in , just in time for the Diamondbacks' first game as an expansion team...
in Phoenix. The manager of the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
, Ozzie Guillen
Ozzie Guillén
Oswaldo José "Ozzie" Guillén Barrios is a Venezuelan-American former Major League Baseball player and current manager of the Miami Marlins. He managed the Chicago White Sox from 2004 to 2011 before asking for his release at the end of the 2011 season....
, stated that he would boycott that game "as a Latin American" and several players indicated they might as well. Selig refused to move the game and it took place as scheduled a year later, with no players or coaches staying away. Two groups protesting outside the stadium drew little interest from fans eager to get into the game. The World Boxing Council
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
, based in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, said it would not schedule Mexican boxers to fight in the state.
A boycott by musicians saying they would not stage performances in Arizona was started by Zack de la Rocha
Zack de la Rocha
Zacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine.-Early life and childhood:...
, the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
and the son of Beto de la Rocha of Chicano art group Los Four
Los Four
Los Four was a Chicano artist collective during the 1970s and early 1980s in Los Angeles, California. The group was instrumental in bringing Chicano Art to the attention of the mainstream art world.-Brief history and significance:...
, who said, "Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low." Called the Sound Strike, artists signing on with the effort included Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino hip-hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide...
, Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
, Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst
Conor Mullen Oberst is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, Norman Bailer , Commander Venus, Park Ave., Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk.-Musical career:Oberst began...
, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Joe Satriani
Joe Satriani
Joseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
, Rise Against
Rise Against
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...
, Tenacious D
Tenacious D
Tenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...
, The Coup
The Coup
The Coup is a political hip hop group based in Oakland, California. It formed as a three-member group in 1992 with emcees Raymond "Boots" Riley and E-Roc along with DJ Pam the Funkstress. E-Roc left on amicable terms after the group's second album but appears on the track "Breathing Apparatus" on...
, Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring.Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music...
, and Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte is a norteño-band ensemble based out of San Jose, California, hailing from Rosa Morada, Sinaloa, Mexico.- History :...
. Some other Spanish-language artists did not join this effort but avoided playing in Arizona on their tours anyway; these included Pitbull
Pitbull (rapper)
Armando Christian Pérez , better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002, after which he released his debut album in 2004 titled M.I.A.M.I. under TVT Records...
, Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel
Wisin & Yandel are a Puerto Rican reggaeton Duo, consisting of Juan Luis Morera Luna and Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar . They started their career in 1998 and have been together since, winning several awards during that time....
, and Conjunto Primavera
Conjunto Primavera
Conjunto Primavera is a Mexican conjunto group from Ojinaga, Chihuahua, currently produced by Alejandro Garcia. In the 1990s and 2000s they became one of the most popular groups in the genre....
. The Sound Strike boycott failed to gain support from many area- or stadium-level acts, and no country music acts signed on. Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
very publicly oppposed such efforts, saying at a concert performance in Tucson: "We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won't come here. They are fuckwits! Let's face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what's the fuck up with these people?" By November 2010, Pitbull had announced a change of heart, playing a show in Phoenix because large parts of the law had been stopped by the judicial action. My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
, an original Sound Strike participant, supposedly dropped out and scheduled a show in the state as well (however, the following day the show was cancelled and the band apologized, explaining that it was an error with tour scheduling and it should not have been booked in the first place due to "the band's affiliation with The Sound Strike" ). De la Rocha said Sound Strike would continue despite the injunction against large parts of SB 1070 in order to battle Arizona's "racist and fear mongering state government" and until the Obama administration stopped participating in federal actions such as the 287(g) program
Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g)
Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287, codified at , was added to the INA by section 133 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act...
, Secure Communities, and other U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
policies.
In reaction to the boycott talk, proponents of the law advocated making a special effort to buy products and services from Arizona in order to indicate support for the law. These efforts, sometimes termed a "buycott", were spread by social media and talk radio as well as by elements of the Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
. Some supporters of the law and legal scholars have also suggested that the city government boycotts of Arizona represent an unconstitutional violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause.
By early May, the state had lost a projected $6–10 million in business revenue, according to the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association. However, an increase in leisure travel and an overall economic recovery more than compensated for the business travel loss; by July, overall hotel occupancy rates and revenues were up from the same period in 2009. The president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said, "Fundamentally, the boycotts have been unsuccessful." A November 2010 study by the progressive-oriented Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
stated that the boycott had so far cost the state economy as much as $141 million in lost revenues, including $45 million in the lodging industry. However, an examination at the same time by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
found that while the boycott had been disruptive in some areas, it had had nowhere near the effect some had originally imagined. Visitors at Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park is the United States' 15th oldest national park and is located in Arizona. Within the park lies the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, considered to be one of the Wonders of the World. The park covers of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties.Most...
were up from the year before, several well-known Arizona-based companies that were targeted said they had seen no effect from it, and the actions by the San Francisco and Los Angeles city governments had resulted in few practical consequences. Sports-related boycotts, such as of the Fiesta Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
, sponsor Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay North America is the division of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets and sells corn chips, potato chips and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips,...
and beer distributor Hensley & Co.
Hensley & Co.
Hensley & Co., also known as Hensley Beverage Company, is an Anheuser-Busch beer wholesaler and distributor headquartered in the West Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona. It markets to the Phoenix, Tempe, and Prescott Valley areas. It is the third-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the United...
, had also had no effect. In September 2011 La Raza and two associated groups called off their boycott, saying that the action had been successful in discouraging some other states from passing SB 1070-like laws and that continuing the boycott would only punish businesses and workers.
Impact
Some Christian churches in Arizona with large immigrant congregations reported a 30 percent drop in their attendance figures. Schools, businesses, and health care facilities in certain areas also reported sizable drops in their numbers. That and the prevalence of yard sales suggested illegal immigrants were leaving Arizona, with some returning to Mexico and others moving to other U.S. states. A November 2010 study by BBVA Bancomer based upon Current Population SurveyCurrent Population Survey
The Current Population Survey is a statistical survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics . The BLS uses the data to provide a monthly report on the Employment Situation. This report provides estimates of the number of unemployed people in the United...
figures stated that there were 100,000 fewer Hispanics in Arizona than before the debate about the law began; it said Arizona's poor economic climate could also be contributing to the decline. The government of Mexico reported that over 23,000 of its citizens returned to the country from Arizona between June and September 2010.
The weeks after the bill's signing saw a sharp increase in the number of Hispanics in the state registering their party affiliations as Democrats.
The Arizona legislation was one of several reasons pushing Democratic congressional leaders to introduce a proposal addressing immigration. Senator Schumer sent a letter to Governor Brewer asking her to delay the law while Congress works on comprehensive immigration reform, but Brewer quickly rejected the proposal.
Bills similar to SB 1070 were introduced in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. None of them went to final votes in 2010; politicians in nearly twenty states are proposing to introduce similar legislation during their 2011 legislative calendars. Such proposals drew strong reaction both for and against, and some states may have waited to see how the Arizona law fares in the courts before moving forward. The other states along the Mexican border – Texas, New Mexico, and California – generally showed little interest in following Arizona's path. This was due to their having established, powerful Hispanic communities, deep cultural ties to Mexico, past experience with bruising political battles over the issue (such as with California Proposition 187
California Proposition 187 (1994)
California Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal aliens from using health care, public education, and other social services in the U.S. State of California...
in the 1990s), and the perception among their populations that illegal immigration was less severe a problem.
By March 2011, Arizona-like bills had been defeated or had failed to progress in at least six states and momentum had shifted against such imitative efforts. Reasons ranged from opposition from business leaders to fear among legislators of the legal costs of defending any adopted measure. One state that did pass a law based partly on SB 1070, Utah, combined it with a guest worker program that went in the other direction (and fit into the spirit of the Utah Compact
Utah Compact
The Utah Compact is a declaration of five principles whose stated purpose is to guide Utah's discussions on Immigration reform. It was passed in the state house and senate, and signed by the Governor at a ceremony on Capitol Hill, November 11, 2010, by supporters; some city workers, business , and...
). Even in Arizona itself, additional tough measures against illegal immigration were having a difficult time gaining passage in the Arizona Senate. Other states were still waiting to see what the outcome of the legal battles would be. By September 2011, Indiana, Georgia, and South Carolina had passed somewhat similar measures and were facing legal action. Another anti-illegal immigration measure, Alabama HB 56
Alabama HB 56
Alabama HB 56, entitled the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, is an anti-illegal immigration bill, signed into law in the U.S. state of Alabama in June 2011...
, was considered tougher even than SB 1070; it was signed into law in June 2011 and most of its key parts were upheld by a U.S. district judge in September 2011.
Some immigration experts said the law might make workers with H-1B visa
H-1B visa
The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101. It allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations...
s vulnerable to being caught in public without their hard-to-replace paperwork, which they are ordinarily reluctant to carry with them on a daily basis, and that as a consequence universities and technology companies in the state might find it harder to recruit students and employees. Some college and university administrators shared this fear, and President Robert N. Shelton
Robert N. Shelton
Robert N. Shelton was the president of the University of Arizona. Before beginning his position on 1 July 2006, he served as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His starting salary at Arizona is reportedly $550,000...
of the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
expressed concern regarding the withdrawal of a number of honor roll students from the university in reaction to this bill.
Some women with questionable immigration status have been avoiding domestic abuse hotlines and shelters for fear of deportation. Some critics of SB 1070 fear that it will serve as a roadblock to victims getting needed support, while supporters say such concerns are unfounded and that the Act is directed towards criminals, not victims.
While a few provisions of the law were left standing following the July 2010 blockage of the most controversial parts, authorities often kept following existing local ordinances in those areas in preference to using the new SB 1070 ones. One county sheriff said, "The whole thing is still on the shelf until the Supreme Court hears it." However, the training that police forces had gone through to avoid racial profiling and understand federal immigration policies still had a beneficial effect overall.
The Supremacy Clause vs. concurrent enforcement
The American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU) criticized the statute as a violation of the Supremacy Clause
Supremacy Clause
Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause, establishes the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Treaties, and Federal Statutes as "the supreme law of the land." The text decrees these to be the highest form of law in the U.S...
of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, which gives the federal government authority over the states in immigration matters and provides that only the federal government can enact and enforce immigration laws. Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure...
, a constitutional scholar and dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law
University of California, Irvine School of Law
The University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine . It is the fifth law school in the UC system and the first public law school to open in California in 40 years...
says that "The law is clearly pre-empted by federal law under Supreme Court precedents."
According to one of the bill's authors (Kobach), the law embodies the doctrine of "concurrent enforcement" – i.e., that the state law parallels applicable federal law without any conflict – and Kobach stated that he believes it would thus survive any challenge: "There are some things that states can do and some that states can't do, but this law threads the needle perfectly.... Arizona only penalizes what is already a crime under federal law." State Senator Pearce noted that some past state laws on immigration enforcement had been upheld in federal courts.
In Gonzales v. City of Peoria (9th Cir. 1983), the Court held that the Immigration and Naturalization Act precludes local enforcement of the Act's civil provisions but does not preclude local enforcement of the Act's criminal provisions. The U.S. Attorney General may enter into a written agreement with a state or local government agency, under which that agency's employees perform the function of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention of aliens in the United States;
however, such an agreement is not required for the agency's employees to perform those functions.
On the other hand, various legal experts were divided on whether the law would survive a court challenge, with one law professor saying it "sits right on that thin line of pure state criminal law and federally controlled immigration law." Past lower court decisions in this area were not always consistent and a decision on the bill's legality from the U.S. Supreme Court is one possible outcome.
Court actions filed against the Act
On April 29, 2010, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders and a Tucson police officer, Martin Escobar, were the first to file suit against SB 1070, with each doing so separately in federal court. The National Coalition's filing claimed that the law usurped federal responsibilities under the Supremacy Clause, and also that it lends itself to racial profiling by imposing a "reasonable suspicion" requirement upon police officers to check the immigration status of those they come in official conduct with, which will in turn be subject to too much personal interpretation by each officer. Escobar's suit argued that there was no race-neutral criteria available to him to suspect that a person was an illegal immigrant, and that implementation of the law would hinder police investigations in areas that were predominantly Hispanic. The suit also claimed the Act violated federal law because the police and the city have no authority to perform immigration-related duties. The Tucson police department made clear that Escobar was not acting on its behalf, and they received many calls from citizens complaining about his suit.A Phoenix police officer, David Salgado, quickly followed with his own federal suit, claiming that to enforce the law he would be required to violate the rights of Hispanics. He also said that he would be forced to spend his own time and resources studying the law's requirements, and that he was liable to being sued whether he enforced the law or not. Another individual suit was filed by Roberto Javier Frisancho, a naturalized citizen and Washington, D.C., resident who said he planned to visit the state to conduct research.
On May 5, Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
and Flagstaff
Flagstaff, Arizona
Flagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2010, the city's population was 65,870. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was at 134,421 in 2010. It is the county seat of Coconino County...
became the first two cities to authorize legal action against the state over the Act; San Luis
San Luis, Arizona
San Luis is a city in Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The population was 15,322 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area. San Luis was the second fastest-growing place among all cities and towns in Arizona of any size from 1990 and 2000...
later joined them. However, as of mid-late May, none of them had actually filed a suit. In late May, though, the city of Tucson filed a cross-claim
Cross-claim
A crossclaim is a claim asserted between codefendants or coplaintiffs in a case and that relates to the subject of the original claim or counterclaim Black's Law Dictionary.-U.S. Federal courts:...
and joined Officer Escobar in his suit.
On May 17, a joint class action lawsuit, Friendly House et al. v. Whiting, was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of ten individuals and fourteen labor, religious, and civil rights organizations. The legal counsel filing the action, which is the largest of those filed, is a collaboration of the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Immigration Law Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is an American organization dedicated to improving the lives of day laborers. It was founded in Northridge, California in July 2001 and is based in Los Angeles, California...
, and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
The Asian Pacific American Legal Center , a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, is a non-profit legal aid and civil rights organization dedicated to advocating for civil rights, providing legal services and education and building coalitions on behalf of the Asian Americans...
. The suit seeks to prevent SB 1070 from going into effect by charging that it:
- violates the federal Supremacy Clause by attempting to bypass federal immigration law;
- violates the Fourteenth AmendmentFourteenth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
and Equal Protection ClauseEqual Protection ClauseThe Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"...
rights of racial and national origin minorities by subjecting them to stops, detentions, and arrests based on their race or origin; - violates the First AmendmentFirst Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
rights of freedom of speechFreedom of speech in the United StatesFreedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws, with the exception of obscenity, defamation, incitement to riot, and fighting words, as well as harassment, privileged...
by exposing speakers to scrutiny based on their language or accent; - violates the Fourth AmendmentFourth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures because it allows for warrantless searches in absence of probable cause; - violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause by being impermissibly vague;
- and infringes on constitutional provisions that protect the right to travel without being stopped, questioned, or detained.
This suit named County's Attorney and Sheriffs as defendants, rather than the State of Arizona or Governor Brewer as the earlier suits had. On June 4, the ACLU and others filed a request for an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
, arguing that the Act's scheduled start date of July 29 should be postponed until the underlying legal challenges against it are resolved.
Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the state affiliate of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is an American criminal defense organization. Their stated mission is to "Ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime. Foster the integrity, independence and expertise of the criminal defense profession...
, alleged in an amicus curiae
Amicus curiae
An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...
brief for the ACLU et al. case that the prolonged detentions mandated by the law when there is reasonable suspicion that someone subject to a lawful stop is an illegal alien are justifiable only under the probable cause
Probable cause
In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the...
standard and thus that the law requires violations of Fourth Amendment rights. The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
also filed an amicus curiae brief in support of this case. So too did the Government of Mexico, saying the law is unconstitutional, would lead to unlawful discrimination against Mexican citizens, and would damage bilateral relations between the two nations. Indeed, so many amicus curiae briefs have been filed regarding the law that size limits were imposed upon them.
Kobach remained optimistic that the suits would fail, saying "I think it will be difficult for the plaintiffs challenging this. They are heavy on political rhetoric but light on legal arguments." In late May 2010, Governor Brewer issued an executive order to create the Governor's Border Security and Immigration Legal Defense Fund to handle suits over the law. Brewer got into a dispute with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard
Terry Goddard
Samuel Pearson "Terry" Goddard III was the Attorney General of Arizona, from 2003 to 2011, who also served as Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona from 1984 to 1990....
over whether he would defend the law against legal challenges, as a state attorney general normally would. Brewer accused Goddard, who opposed the law personally and was one of Brewer's possible rivals in the gubernatorial election, of colluding with the U.S. Justice Department as it deliberated whether to challenge the law in court. Goddard subsequently agreed to withdraw from the state's defense. (Goddard did get the Democratic nomination, and Brewer went on to defeat him by a 54 to 42 percent margin in the November 2010 gubernatorial general election
Arizona gubernatorial election, 2010
The Arizona gubernatorial election of 2010 was held on November 2, 2010 to elect the Governor of Arizona. Incumbent Republican Jan Brewer ran for her first full term. Party primaries were held on August 24, 2010...
.)
Department of Justice lawsuit
The United States Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on July 6, 2010, asking that the law be declared invalid since it interferes with the immigration regulations "exclusively vested in the federal government." In a brief to the press, the department's lawyers referenced the notion of federal preemption
Federal preemption
Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...
and stated that, "The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country," and that "The immigration framework set forth by Congress and administered by federal agencies reflects a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations, and humanitarian concerns – concerns that belong to the nation as a whole, not a single state." This pointed to an additional practical argument, that being that the law would result in federal authorities losing focus on their broader priorities in order to deal with an influx of deportations from Arizona. The Justice Department requested that the federal courts issue an injunction to enjoin enforcement of the law before it goes into effect. The suit does not argue that the law will lead to racial profiling, although department officials said they would continue to monitor that aspect when and if the measure went into effect.
A direct suit of a state by the federal government is rare, and the action held possible political consequences for the 2010 U.S. midterm elections
United States elections, 2010
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...
as well. It was also seen as a preemptive measure to discourage other states considering similar laws from moving forward with them. Immediate reaction to the Justice Department's decision was highly split, with liberal groups hailing it but with Governor Brewer calling it "nothing more than a massive waste of taxpayer funds." Senators Kyl and McCain released a joint statement noting that "the American people must wonder whether the Obama Administration is really committed to securing the border when it sues a state that is simply trying to protect its people by enforcing immigration law." Congressman Darrell Issa
Darrell Issa
Darrell Edward Issa is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 48th, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was formerly a CEO of Directed Electronics, the Vista, California-based manufacturer of automobile security and convenience products...
, one of nineteen Republicans to sign a letter criticizing the suit on the day it was announced, said "For President Obama to stand in the way of a state which has taken action to stand up for its citizens against the daily threat of violence and fear is disgraceful and a betrayal of his Constitutional obligation to protect our citizens." The federal action also led to a surge in contributions to the governor's defense fund for the law; by July 8, total donations were over $500,000, with the large majority of them being for $100 or less and coming from around the nation.
The Arizona Latino Republican Association became the first Latino organization to come out in support of SB 1070 and filed a motion to intervene against the Justice Department's lawsuit challenging it. An attempt in the U.S. Senate to block funding for the Justice Department's lawsuit lost by a 55–43 vote that was mostly along party lines.
Hearings and rulings
Hearings on three of the seven lawsuits were held on July 15 and 22, 2010, before U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton. Judge Bolton asked pointed questions of each side during both hearings, but gave no indication of how or when she would rule.On July 28, 2010, Judge Bolton issued a ruling on the Justice Department suit, United States of America v. Arizona
United States of America v. Arizona
The United States of America v. The State of Arizona is a federal lawsuit filed by the United States Justice Department in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona on July 6, 2010, challenging Arizona's Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act as usurping the...
, granting a preliminary injunction
Preliminary injunction
A preliminary injunction, in equity, is an injunction entered by a court prior to a final determination of the merits of a legal case, in order to restrain a party from going forward with a course of conduct or compelling a party to continue with a course of conduct until the case has been decided...
that blocked the most key and controversial portions of SB 1070 from going into effect. These included requiring police to check the immigration status of those arrested or stopped, which the judge ruled would overwhelm the federal government handling of immigration cases, and could mean that legal immigrants would be wrongly arrested. Judge Bolton wrote that "Federal resources will be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determination that will flow from Arizona." Her ruling was not a final decision, but rather was based on the belief that the Justice Department was likely, but not certain, to win a full later trial in federal court on these aspects. Judge Bolton made no rulings in the other six lawsuits. Governor Brewer said that the injunction would be appealed, and on July 29 this was done in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
in San Francisco. State Senator Pearce predicted that the legal battle would eventually end up in the Supreme Court and likely be upheld by a 5–4 margin.
Judge Bolton's ruling let a number of other aspects of the law take effect on July 29, including the ability to prevent state officials from maintaining "sanctuary city
Sanctuary city
Sanctuary city is a term given to a city in the United States that follows certain practices that protect illegal immigrants. These practices can be by law or they can be by habit...
" policies and allowing civil suits against those policies, the mandating that state officials work with federal officials on matters related to illegal immigration, and the prohibition against stopping a vehicle in traffic to pick up day laborers. These parts of the law were not challenged by the Justice Department, but were in some of the other suits.
A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in the appeal case on November 1, 2010, and gave indications that it might reinstate but weaken parts of the law.
In February 2011, Arizona filed a countersuit against the federal government in the United States v. Arizona case, accusing it of failing to secure the Mexican border against large numbers of illegal immigrants. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne
Tom Horne
Thomas Charles "Tom" Horne is the current Arizona Attorney General. He served as the Arizona Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2011.-Early Life and Education:...
acknowledged that precedent surrounding sovereign immunity in the United States
Sovereign immunity in the United States
Sovereign immunity in the United States is the legal privilege by which the American federal, state, and tribal governments cannot be sued. Local governments in most jurisdictions enjoy immunity from some forms of suit, particularly in tort...
made the state's case difficult, but said, "We're asking the 9th Circuit to take a second look."
On April 11, 2011, the Ninth Circuit panel upheld the district court's ban on parts of the law taking effect, thus ruling in favor of the Obama administration and against Arizona. Judge Richard Paez
Richard Paez
Richard Anthony Paez is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.- Early life and education :Paez hails from Utah. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University in 1969...
gave the majority opinion, in which Judge John T. Noonan, Jr.
John T. Noonan, Jr.
John Thomas Noonan, Jr. is a Senior Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with chambers in San Francisco, California. He was appointed in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan.-Education and practice:...
joined; Judge Carlos Bea
Carlos Bea
Carlos Tiburcio Bea is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was appointed to that court by President George W. Bush in 2003 to replace Judge Charles Edward Wiggins....
dissented in part. Paez agreed with the administration's view that the state had intruded upon federal prerogatives. Noonan wrote in his concurrence: "The Arizona statute before us has become a symbol. For those sympathetic to immigrants to the United States, it is a challenge and a chilling foretaste of what other states might attempt." On May 9, 2011, Governor Brewer announced that Arizona would appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court rather than request a hearing en banc
En banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
before the Ninth Circuit; that appeal was filed on August 10, 2011. In response, the Justice Department requested that the Supreme Court stay out of the case, saying that the lower courts actions were appropriate. Observers thought it likely that the Supreme Court would take up the matter, but if it declined to step in, the case most likely would be returned to the trial judge in the District Court to review the case on it merits and determine whether the temporary injunction that blocked the law's most controversial provisions should become permanent. Bolton's court continues to oversee the other lawsuits.
See also
- Illegal immigration in the United States
- Chandler RoundupChandler RoundupThe Chandler Roundup was a law enforcement operation in Chandler, Arizona, in 1997 in which hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants were arrested. In 2004 hearings of the U.S...
- Special Order 40Special Order 40Special Order 40 is a police mandate implemented in 1979 by the Los Angeles Police Department , its Police Chief Daryl Gates and the Los Angeles City Council preventing LAPD officers from questioning people for the sole purpose of determining their immigration status...
- Sanctuary citySanctuary citySanctuary city is a term given to a city in the United States that follows certain practices that protect illegal immigrants. These practices can be by law or they can be by habit...
External links
- Documents for SB 1070 at the Arizona State Legislature
- Documents for HB 2162 at the Arizona State Legislature
- SB1070 as amended by HB 2162 (combined version), unofficial but provided by Arizona State Legislature
- House Engrossed Senate Bill SB 1070, as enacted, Arizona Governor website.
- Conference engrossed Bill HB 2162 Amending SB 1070, as enacted, Arizona Governor website.
- United States Code Title 8 – Aliens and Nationality
- SB1070 Public Information Center – Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board
- Gabriel J. ChinGabriel J. ChinGabriel Jack Chin is an author, legal scholar, and Professor at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. Chin is the Chester H. Smith Professor of Law and co-director of the Program in Criminal Law and Policy at the James E. Rogers College of Law, and Professor at the School of...
, Carissa Byrne Hessick, Toni Massaro & Marc Miller, Arizona Senate Bill 1070: A Preliminary Report, Social Science Research NetworkSocial Science Research NetworkThe Social Science Research Network is a website devoted to the rapid dissemination of scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities. SSRN is viewed as particularly strong in the fields of economics, finance, accounting, management, and law. SSRN was founded in 1994 by Michael Jensen ... - Keith Gaddie & Kelly Damphousse, editors. Social Science Quarterly virtual issue: Immigration on the One Year Anniversary of Arizona SB 1070.
- Fact sheet for S.B. 1070 (Hoja de resumen para la S.B. 1070)